Broken
by Iknowyoulovemexoxo
Summary: She thinks she has a perfect life with the perfect job, the perfect children and the perfect husband but what happens when Stephanie's perfect husband isn't so perfect any more? When her family is her everything can Stephanie survive when her perfect life falls apart?
1. Chapter 1

I entirely blame **AttitudeEraChick** for causing my muses to come up with this idea but I'm not sure about it. This is the only time I will ever ask for reviews so I know whether to continue with this or not as it is completely different for me so just let me know please :)

Thank you though to **AttitudeEraChick** , **AFantasyWorld** , **Waterkiddy** and **hhhandsteph** for your support already.

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"When's Daddy coming home?"

Pulling her youngest daughter onto her lap Stephanie kissed her cheek, "I don't know, I'm sure he'll not be too long though. Am I not good enough for you?"

Violently shaking her head the little girl wrapped her arms around her Mom's neck, "No no Mommy, lots good."

Kissing her daughter's cheek she distracted her from thoughts of her Father.

The garage door opened and she was abandoned by the little girl on her lap to greet her Dad before he even said that he was home. Taking a deep breath she was not looking forward to this evening at all but she had to do this.

Walking into the lounge with his daughter in his arms he kissed her cheek one more time before he set her on the floor, "Why don't you go back to what you were doing so Daddy can say hello to your sisters too." Making his way over to the two older girls he bent down and kissed them both on the top of the head, "Did you have a good day?"

Murphy lifted her head to look at her Dad, "Yes thank you."

Aurora sat there silently focussed on her colouring and not the commotion that was being created by her Dad returning.

Paul noticed that Aurora didn't pay him much attention but he needed to shower so he would talk to her after, "Well I am going to go and shower before dinner, I will be back in a minute."

He was halfway to the door when a little voice stopped him, "What 'bout Mommy? Doesn't she get a kiss?"

"Of course she can have a kiss, I was just going to wait until you guys weren't around as I know how much you dislike me kissing her in front of you but seeing as I have your permission to kiss her." Walking back to his wife he bent down over the back of the couch and kissed her cheek, "And now I will go and shower."

Passing the front door he groaned when the doorbell rang but seeing as he was there he went and opened the door confused by who was stood in front of him, "Linda, we weren't expecting you were we?"

Standing there in front of her son-in-law she couldn't help but sense some tension and it was almost like she wasn't welcome, "I was in the area and thought I would take my Granddaughters out for dinner, if that is okay with you?"

Paul shrugged, "You'll have to talk to Stephanie."

Walking out of the lounge Stephanie was so relieved to see her Mom, "Hi Mom. Come in, don't stand out there."

Smiling at her daughter she walked inside and immediately embraced her.

Hugging her Mom she whispered 'thank you' in her ear before she pulled back, "Let's see if the girls want to go for dinner. She didn't even get to ask the question as they had heard the voices in the hallway and had all come out to see what was going on, "We go with Gramma."

Paul went from going for a shower to helping get his daughter's ready to go out for dinner with his Mother-in-law, she didn't normally just drop by on a week night to take the girls out for dinner but he wasn't going to cause an argument in front of their children over it.

Five minutes later and the girls had left so now he was going to ask, "That was nice of your Mom to take the girls for dinner but I'm no sure it was a wise thing to do on a week night"

She didn't have to put on a front any more, she didn't have to keep the peace so she didn't upset the girls so she could be honest, "It wasn't a spontaneous visit, I asked her to take the girls out for a few hours." Brushing past him she made her way up the stairs.

Confused he stood there for a moment before he hurried to catch up with his wife, "What do you mean you . . ." He stopped dead in the doorway when he saw the state their bedroom was in with suitcases and boxes strewn everywhere, "Damn Steph, clearing out much? Exactly how much is left in this room?"

Shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly she turned to face him, "Oh you know, just all of my stuff."

His mouth fell open, "What do you mean 'all of my stuff'? Where the hell is my stuff? Why are you clearing my stuff out?"

Waving her hand around she motioned to the suitcases and boxes, "Here is all of your stuff, I kindly packed it all up for you figuring that you would like to take clothes with you when you leave."

"When I **leave**?! I'm not going anywhere, we don't have Raw until Monday and I don't have NXT for a few weeks."

Looking at her husband she didn't even recognise the person stood in front of her, "No trust me you are leaving, I refuse to share the house with a cheater."

Internally Paul was panicking but externally he tried to remain calm, "I'm not cheating on you Steph, you know I love you and the girls."

"I **thought** you loved us Paul but clearly you don't." Walking over to the bedside table she opened the top drawer and pulled out a piece of paper before she walked back to her husband and thrust it in his face, "I'm not stupid Paul, I found this and it very clearly shows that you are cheating on me. For one this was a **secret** credit card and then there is the dinners I didn't go on with you, the hotels we didn't stay at together and the flowers that I definitely didn't receive. Feel free to try and explain this but I won't believe you."

Faced with the credit card statement it was hard to deny the truth but if he apologised she would forgive him, she **had** to forgive him. Taking the paper from her hand he threw it somewhere letting it float down onto the bed and took her hands in his, "I **do** love you Stephanie, you are my everything and it was just a stupid mistake."

Snatching her hands away she was getting angrier the more he spoke, "A 'stupid mistake' would be drunkenly kissing someone in a bar, a 'stupid mistake' is not a secret credit card and repeated dinners, stays in hotels and who knows how many bouquets of flowers."

She was never meant to find out, he didn't plan out the end of it all but he didn't want her to find out about it, "Stephanie please, I am begging you not to do this. I will do whatever you want me to do. I will cut up that credit card right now and you can have possession of all other cards in my wallet and just give me an allowance. Steph I will do anything if you'll please just forgive me."

Taking a deep breath she couldn't do it, she couldn't be around him, "Just leave Paul, go before the girls get home and you have to explain to them why I'm kicking you out."

"What about Joe?"

Rolling her eyes she crossed her arms, "I texted him and told him one of the girls wasn't well and we had to cancel so he isn't coming for the gym session tonight so you can leave."

He was running out of excuses as to why he should stay, "Please Stephanie, I'll sleep in a guest room or on the couch or anything."

Groaning she picked up two of the suitcases, "No you won't, you will leave."

Taking the suitcases she headed for the door in the hopes that he would get the hint but if not she would take all of his things downstairs and pack the car for him if she had to.

Clearly the McMahon temper had kicked in and he wasn't going to get anywhere with her today so he had to relent and do what she wanted and come back to talk to her again when she had calmed down. Grabbing a few of the boxes off the floor he took them down the stairs and made his way to the garage to try and pack all of his stuff into the car, "I'm not going to give up on us Steph."

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever, I think you gave up the minute you started your affair so why don't you go to her, I'm sure she'd love to have you full time."

Ten minutes later and his car was packed and she was stood waiting for him to leave, "Goodbye Paul."

Walking over to his wife he bent down to kiss her lips but she quickly turned her head away from him and he kissed he cheek, "No matter what my actions say I love you very much. Give the girls each a hug and a kiss and tell them I love them."

Snorting she crossed her arms, "Whatever you say. Just leave Paul, they will be home soon."

Reluctantly he climbed into the car and started the engine before he started the garage door rising taking one last look at his wife before he drove out.

Waiting for him to close the garage door she walked back into the house and locked the inside garage door making sure that he couldn't get back in that way before she went to the cupboard and retrieved a wine glass and then took the wine from the fridge pouring herself a large glass before she took the glass and bottle of wine into the lounge to sit down and try to regain her composure before the girls came home.

She didn't know how long she had been sat in silence or how many glasses of wine she had had when the doorbell rang and she knew exactly who it was and she couldn't wait to see her baby girls again. Setting her glass down on the coffee table she quickly made her way to the door throwing it open and smiling when the girls all hugged her tightly. Forcing a smile on her she was not going to let them see that something was wrong, "Hey, did you have fun with Grandma?"

Murphy was quick to speak up, "Gramma wouldn't let us have ice cream but she said she'd take us for some on Saturday."

Laughing softly at the pouts on her daughter's faces she looked at her Mom with a raised eyebrow and she shrugged, "I thought with school tomorrow you would prefer it if they weren't bouncing off the walls from a sugar high so I promised them they could have ice cream at the weekend to make up for it. You don't mind do you?"

Shaking her head she was actually quite relieved that they would hopefully go straight to sleep, "Not at all. Girls say goodnight to Grandma and go and get ready for your baths please and I will be up now."

All three turned to their Grandma and there was a chorus of 'Goodnight Grandma' before Aurora and Murphy took Vaughn's hand and led her towards the stairs.

As soon as the girls were out of sight Linda looked at her daughter seriously, "Are you okay? Where's Paul?"

She hadn't told her Mom why she wanted her to take them out to dinner and she wasn't about to now, "I'm fine, honestly. I'd better go and get them all ready for bed but thank you Mom, I will talk to you soon."

She didn't know what it was but she could sense something wasn't right with her daughter so she pulled her close for a tight hug, "If you say so but your Dad and I are here for you whenever you need us, at any time of the day or night. Take care of yourself and I love you."

Gulping she was not going to lose it, "I know. I love you too Mom." Watching her Mom walk away she shut and locked the front door flipping the dead bolt so nobody could open it before she headed for the stairs, "Are you ready yet?"

Reaching Vaughn's room she noticed all three girls sat on her bed, "So are you all too old to have a bath together tonight?"

All three girls shook their heads as they knew it meant they could bathe in the huge bath in the Master en-suite so weren't disappointed when she herded them all to the Master en-suite, "Please be careful whilst I run this bath."

Leaning over the bath Stephanie could hear the whispers and turned to face her daughters eyeing them suspiciously, "What are you three up to?"

"Where's Daddy?"

She should have known that question would come from his mini-me, she was very much a Daddy's girl and she knew that this would hit her the hardest which was why she was going to try her best to shield them all from it, "He was called away on an emergency, he's not sure when he'll be back."

All three girls looked disappointed at that news because they all loved their Dad, even Aurora who wasn't getting on with him, "Oh."

Turning the taps off she motioned to the bath, "Come on and jump in and no, I don't mean literally so please be careful."

Well over an hour later and finally all of the girls were in bed, she wasn't convinced that they were all fast asleep but they were in bed and on their way to being asleep and that was good enough for her tonight.

Making her way back downstairs she poured what was left of the bottle of wine into her glass and downed it all in two mouthfuls before she took them into the kitchen placing the glass in the dishwasher to be washed and dumping the bottle in the recycling. Ensuring that the doors were locked she turned off the lights and made her way back upstairs, she had work to do but she really wasn't in the mood so she was going to get an early night and everything would feel better in the morning.

Walking into the bedroom she opened a drawer to pull out something to wear to did but she was it by the smell that was distinctly Paul and suddenly she wasn't feeling like going to bed. Closing the drawer she opened the one beside it and pulled out some workout gear because a workout would make everything better.

Five minutes later and she was walking into the gym as she finished off tying her hair back into a ponytail almost being knocked over by the dog as he followed her, "Seriously Bluto? Just lie down and stay out of my way."

She needed to forget so Stephanie added more weights than she had ever done before to the dog sled and began to push it before she moved on to something else not even caring if she was doing things in the right order tonight, she just needed to forget.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to everybody for the support you gave chapter 1, it was phenomal and so much more than I expected. I really hope you continue to enjoy the story :)

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When he drove away from home he had no idea where he was going. He could go to her but if he wanted any chance of keeping his job he needed to stay on Stephanie's good side, well he wasn't on her good side now but he would be lucky to still be alive if he did that. With these thoughts in mind he went to find a hotel to stay in for the night.

Pulling into the parking lot of a hotel he left his things in the car and went inside ringing the bell on the front desk for attention. When a frazzled woman finally appeared in front of him he couldn't even muster a polite smile for her, "I need a room for the night please."

Sitting down she pulled up the reservations, "Single, Double or King? One occupant or two? One night or more?"

"Double, one and who knows. Is it possible to just leave it open ended?"

Beginning the registration process she frowned, "I don't know, I have never done it like that before. I would suggest speaking with a manager tomorrow, they will be in from eight until about seven, but for now I will book you in for one night and then you can change it tomorrow. Can I have some identification and a card to charge please."

Taking his wallet from his back pocket he opened it and pulled out his drivers license and placed that on the counter before he took out a credit card but as he checked that it was the correct one he slipped it back into his wallet and pulled out a different one, if he wanted to get his family back he needed to show Stephanie that he wasn't hiding where he was by using his not-so-secret any more credit card. Sliding both cards across the counter he just wanted to get a room and go to bed, or to the gym.

Twenty minutes later and he had a key card and had managed to find a suitcase that had all of the clothes he needed in and his gym bag and he was on his way to his room. Watching the light until it went green he removed the key from the slot and opened the door, this definitely wasn't home but he was used to living out of hotels so he would survive. Placing his suitcase on the floor he threw his gym bag on the bed and pulled out his gym clothes to change, tonight had been hell and he had a lot of thinking and planning to do.

When the alarm went off at six Stephanie reached her hand out and slammed her fist on it shutting it up, she had had the worst dream last night and had actually dreamt that her husband had cheated on her. Rolling over to cuddle into him to make herself feel better before she got up she just felt emptiness and as her hand touched the sheets they were stone cold. Closing her eyes she slowly opened them again before she sat up and looked around, it was no dream, it was all real.

After realising that yesterday was not a dream being awake was not what she wanted to be right now but she had to get the girls to school and she then had to go to work. Rolling out of bed she padded into the bathroom and turned the shower on.

Fifteen minutes later and she was in the kitchen making herself a protein drink and a cup of coffee because after walking into the gym just before ten she didn't fall into bed until almost two, she wasn't working out all of those four hours, just most of them. She was feeling that workout throughout her entire body but at least if she was feeling stiffness and pain in her limbs it would take her mind off of the pain in her heart. Quickly pushing those thoughts from her mind she focussed on downing her protein drink and then slowly sipping her coffee.

As soon as she finished her coffee she started to boil the kettle for another one but first things first she had to get all of the girls up and ready for school. Walking up the stairs she ran her fingers though her hair, she hoped she didn't look as bad as she felt as she didn't want the girls picking up on what was wrong as she wanted to shield them.

Entering her oldest daughter's room first she smiled at the way she was sprawled across the bed and the covers were nearly on the floor, she had never been one to keep the covers on her even as a baby. Walking over to the bed she gently shook her daughter's shoulder, "Aurora baby, it's time to get up." There was movement and moans before her eyes opened, "I'm going to go and wake your sisters and then I will be back to check on you."

Twenty minutes later and she was sat on Murphy's bed tying her hair back when Vaughn walked into the room and sat on the bed beside her, "Where's your sparkles?"

Finishing with Murphy's hair she turned to her youngest daughter and started to brush her hair, "I forgot to put some on. Do you think Mommy needs some?"

The little girl nodded her head, "You's not Mommy without some."

Unsure if that was an actual insult she finished brushing her hair and then got up placing the brush back on the side, "Well why don't you join your sister in the kitchen and start eating your breakfast and I will go and put some jewellery on."

She waited until the girls were heading downstairs before she went back to her bedroom and opened her jewellery box to put something on. Taking a simple pair of hoop earrings out she put those in her ears and then picked up the necklace that her Mom had taken the girls to buy her and placed that around her neck before she instinctively picked up her wedding rings but as she went to slide them on her finger she stopped, she couldn't wear them knowing what he had done so she put them down again and shut the lid to go and see if the girls were eating their breakfast.

Entering the kitchen she was pleased to see that they were all eating the cereals she had laid out for them, "Do I pass now?"

Vaughn nodded her head, "You pwetty."

Forcing a smile she walked over to her daughter and kissed the top of her head, "Thank you baby girl. So who wants toast?"

After dropping the girls at school Stephanie made her way to work, she really hoped that she could avoid Paul because she really didn't want to deal with him today and especially not at work. Sliding carefully past Paul's office she was glad that he wasn't in his office to see her as she made her way to her office and said a quick hello to her secretary before she opened the door and stepped inside but stopped and turned back to face her, "Jill I don't want to be disturbed by anybody, and I do mean anybody, but you and my Father today please. I have a lot of work to get done and I want to stay focussed and avoid as many distractions as possible."

"Yes Mrs . . . Stephanie, sorry, I can't help but revert back when you give me instructions like that."

Nodding her head she smiled, "It's okay, don't worry." Walking into her office she shut the door firmly to block out distractions but mostly to block out him.

He had set the alarm on his phone for six thirty but he didn't need it, he hadn't actually slept at all because his mind would not shut off. He did feel guilty for what he had done because he did love Stephanie with all of his heart but the other woman was there, she didn't have any expectations of him and it was nice to get away and to be with someone who didn't expect him to be a perfect husband or Father or executive.

Climbing out of bed he needed to shower and dress and make sure that he was wearing his wedding ring before he went to get some breakfast and then spoke to a manager, he was hoping when he spoke to Stephanie later that she would have changed her mind but he had to prepare himself just incase she hadn't.

After breakfast he was stood at the desk waiting for the manager to appear, looking at his watch he didn't have much longer to wait before he needed to leave for work so unless they hurried up he would be leaving without speaking to them. His thoughts were interrupted by the manager, "I'm sorry to keep you, it is surprisingly busy this early in the morning. What is it I can help you with?"

"Last night the person that checked me in said that she couldn't do an open ended reservation and that I needed to speak with a manager so can you do it please? I am currently unsure how long I will be staying so I can't give any sort of dates at all."

Frowning the manager eyed him suspiciously, "Why aren't you sure how long that you are staying for?"

Paul wasn't about to broadcast his business to this stranger so he was going to lie, "I am in town for work and it isn't clear how long that it is going to last."

"Oh. I guess I could do it on a night by night basis. What is your name?"

By the time Paul arrived at work it was late and he knew he couldn't go and talk to his wife so lunchtime would have to do.

When lunchtime arrived he pushed his work aside and got up passing his secretary as he exited making his way to his wife's office. Taking a deep breath he walked in and smiled at her secretary, "Good day Jill." Breezing right by her he ignored her when she said that his wife didn't want any interruptions, he wasn't an interruption he was her husband. Opening the door he stepped inside and shut it behind him before he stood in front of her desk unsure of what to say so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "You're not wearing your wedding rings."

Stopping typing on her laptop mid-word she slowly lifted her head to look at the man stood in front of her noticing immediately the ring on his finger, "And I notice that you have suddenly found the desire to wear yours."

"I'm just proving to the world that I am married and that I want to prove to you that I am not going to give up on us."

"Didn't you give up on us the minute you started sleeping with that whore? Seriously Paul I don't know what you are trying to prove but don't bother."

Moving around the desk he reached out to touch his wife but pulled back when she flinched away, "Stephanie please, I never gave up on you, on us, please don't give up on me. Can I come home tonight?"

Standing up she grabbed her jacket to pull on, "No, not tonight, not tomorrow, not ever. You gave up your rights to a family when you cheated so drop this sweet innocent act and stop bothering me because I am not interested."

Paul sighed, "Stephanie please, the girls need their Father so we need to put our issues aside so they can have a family."

Staring at her husband she felt her blood pressure rising and the steam coming out of her ears, "You did **not** just say that." Grabbing her purse from the floor she pushed past him and headed for the door to her office needing to get out of there and away from him.

Quickly following Stephanie he grabbed her arm, "Stephanie I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

Pulling her arm free she slowly opened her office door so as not to draw attention from her secretary before she walked out, "I'm going to grab some lunch and will be back in an hour." She didn't even wait for her to answer as she breezed out of the office and away from her husband.

Paul stood there just staring at the back of his wife as she walked out of the room, he didn't know what he was going to do to fix this mess but it looked like it was going to be a lot as it didn't seem like she was in a very forgiving mood.


	3. Chapter 3

Vince watched his daughter breezed out of her office almost running people over in her hurry as she passed them. Turning his attention back to the paperwork he was sorting through on his Secretary's desk he looked up again when he saw more movement and that was when he saw his son-in-law leaving his daughter's office looking less than impressed, something wasn't right, he just didn't know what it was. He didn't have time to worry about his daughter's love life so would focus on his work and speak to his wife later, if there truly was anything to worry about then she would know.

After an hour of sitting on a bench Stephanie returned to work, she hoped that this time her husband would manage to leave her alone.

Surviving the rest of the day without her husband coming anywhere near her she returned home early pushing open the front door and smiled the first real genuine smile in what felt like forever when she was attacked by all three of her babies. Hugging them quickly she got down onto her knees and wrapped her arms around them all as best she could, "I'm so happy to see you."

The girls all started talking a mile a minute and it made her smile wider, nothing made a bad day brighter than coming home to three smiling faces who had no idea how bad her day had been but could instantly make it better just by being themselves.

Lying on the bed next to her middle daughter she gently stroked her hair as she started to fall asleep, "I love you very much."

"Love you too Mommy." Yawning she rubbed her eyes as she snuggled closer to her Mom, "Does Daddy love us?"

Stephanie felt the knot in her stomach reappear, "Of course he loves you very much. Why would you think that he doesn't love you?"

"He's not called us and he's not home."

Sighing heavily she couldn't argue that he hadn't tried calling but she was the reason he wasn't at home because she had thrown him out even though ultimately he brought it on himself. Kissing her daughter's head one more time she held her close, "Your Daddy loves you very much, I'm sure things will be sorted soon."

When she looked down at her daughter she realised she was fast asleep so she carefully got up from the bed as she had one more daughter to cuddle with until she fell asleep.

With all of the girls fast asleep Stephanie changed into her gym gear and headed downstairs, Joe was due really soon and she wanted to make sure she was ready.

Checking out the time on her watch she was almost ready to start working out on her own she was so stressed but luckily for her the doorbell rang and when she opened the door her trainer was stood right in front of her, "Hey, come in and let's get started."

Shaking his head at how eager she was Joe DeFranco walked through the front door and headed straight for the gym. Once inside he shrugged off his jacket and placed that and his phone on the side, "How are the girls? Is Paul joining us tonight?"

Stretching she kept her eyes off of him, "The girls are good thanks, it turns out it was just a snuffle and nothing serious. Paul won't be joining us, he's not here."

Sensing a little bit of tension around talk of Paul he quickly changed the subject, "So the dog sled has some serious weight on it, did Paul work out with it last night?" Removing the weight from the sled he needed it out of the way for his plans for her.

Standing up straight she looked at him and shrugged, "It was me, I needed to blow off some steam so I threw some weight on the sled and pushed it a few times."

He was surprised and impressed, "A few? A few like two or a few like ten?"

"Uh . . . a few like I have no idea because I lost count. So where are we starting tonight?"

He had heard about women gaining superhuman strength when needed but whatever was going on was more than superhuman strength, it was scary strength, "Remind me never to get on your bad side. We will start with some more stretches, after what you pushed last night I'm going to make sure that you're not overdoing it and doing any damage to your body."

Rolling her eyes she shook her head, "Stop fussing."

"I'm not fussing I'm caring. Now drop and give me twenty . . . okay not really but let's get this started."

Breathing a sigh of relief she was so glad that he was letting it drop so she could focus on working out.

Arriving home from work Vince had his daughter on his mind, sitting down at the dinner table with his wife he still had his daughter on his mind, so much so that he wasn't eating his dinner, he was pushing it around his plate.

Placing her cutlery down onto her plate Linda looked at her husband who was incredibly quiet and noticed the lack of food being eaten, "Is dinner really that bad that you don't want to eat it Vince?"

Looking up from his dinner he sighed, "No, I'm just distracted. Can I ask you a question?"

"You know you can ask me anything Vince. What is wrong?"

Putting his knife and fork down he briefly pushed his dinner away, "You know last night you took the girls out to dinner for Stephanie?"

She didn't know where this was going but she wasn't sure she liked it, "I did. Stephanie called me late out of the blue saying that she needed to talk to Paul and she preferred to do it in silence. Why?"

Sighing that was what he thought she had said, "At lunchtime I was at my Secretary's desk going through some paperwork when Stephanie came breezing out of her office nearly knocking people down in her hurry to get past them and out of the building and then a minute or so later Paul left Stephanie's office looking less than happy. Do you think everything between them is okay?"

It was unusual for her daughter to leave anywhere in such a hurry that she nearly ran people over but things weren't sounding good, "I don't know but there is only one way to find out. I owe the girls ice cream so maybe I will turn up at the girls dance class in the morning and get somebody to talk or if Paul and Stephanie are both there I will be able to tell if everything is okay."

Vince wanted to believe his wife knew what she was doing but he wasn't sure. He wasn't normally one to try to pump his Grandchildren for information and neither was his wife so if she was contemplating it things must be bad, "If Stephanie found out that you tried to get information from the girls then she would kill us both."

"But that would require her knowing for her to kill us, if I am careful I won't be trying to force details out of them, it would just come naturally as they talk to me."

Vince looked at his wife sceptically, normally he trusted her and believed in her but on this he was just afraid because if his gut was right then she would need them more than ever and he didn't want to alienate her, "I hope you are right, I really do."

Paul didn't know what to do with himself sat in a hotel room by himself, normally at these points he would call his wife but she was likely to hang up or maybe not even answer if he did try. He had work that he should do but he was finding it hard to focus when he missed his girls, all of them, he knew that he was responsible for the situation that he was in but it didn't mean that he had to like it.

When his phone beeped he scrambled to grab hold of it to see if it was from Stephanie but as he picked it up and looked at the screen he noticed the time and realised that she would be training with Joe now, turning his attention to the text he reluctantly unlocked the screen when he saw the name:

 _Hey, I'm in the area again all weekend if you want to catch up ;-)_

Staring at his phone it was surprisingly tempting to meet up with her but when his marriage was already on the rocks he had to cool things down, he wasn't sure he wanted to end things with her but he didn't want to lose his wife for good either.

Standing up he threw his phone down on the bed and looked for his gym bag to change and workout because he was giving himself a headache right now.

Joe filmed Stephanie doing some strength exercises so she could look back on them to see how it should be done, "Right you can look at this and know how you should do the exercises and Paul can check it out so he can make sure that you are doing them correct if you choose to do some working out this weekend."

Taking the phone back from him she didn't look in his eyes not wanting him to ask questions, "Sure. Thanks for doing that Joe."

"You're very welcome. You'd be surprised to learn that I have actually had a few women contact me after they've seen the videos you've posted to Twitter so you are doing a lot of good for the health of women."

Rolling her eyes she shook her head, "I am not."

Picking up his own phone he unlocked it and logged into his emails, "Top three opened emails, I got them all today. Be proud of yourself and have confidence, you are doing more than you realise."

Checking out the subjects she realised he was telling her the truth, "Oh."

"I'm not sure what's wrong today but you need to be the Stephanie I'm used to, the happy smiling confident Stephanie who takes shit from nobody, including her husband."

She hated that he said she wasn't confident, she didn't need a man to make her confident and she wasn't going to let him define who she now was, "Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night so I'm a bit out of it. Let's take a picture and show the Twitter world that even on little sleep we kick butt in the gym."

He thought about making a joke about Paul but that subject seemed a bit of a sore point so he would skip it, "Sure."

Standing together they smiled and took a selfie before she showed him out, "I'll see you on Wednesday, have a good weekend Joe."

"You too Steph and get some sleep."

Locking the door behind Joe she leant against it as she opened Twitter to prove a point to herself:

 _No sleep and a long day at work but still finding the time and energy to hit the gym, thanks DeFrancosGym_

Attaching the photo she sent the tweet before she closed the app and scrolled across to her messages almost hoping that Paul had sent her a text about the girls but there was nothing. Locking her phone she slipped it into the waistband of her pants as she made her way through to the kitchen getting a fresh bottle of water from the fridge and making sure all of the doors were locked before she went upstairs drinking the water as she went.

Pausing at the door of each of her daughter's as she made her way to her room she was relieved to see that they were all fast asleep. Stopping in the doorway of her youngest she walked closed and picked her favourite teddy up from the floor placing it back on the bed beneath her arm before she pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head and left the room silently pulling the door closed behind her.

Entering her bedroom she kicked the door shut behind her as she removed her phone from her waistband placing it on the bedside table along with the bottle of water. Turning around she walked back to the dresser she pulled an oversized shirt and some panties from the drawers before she walked into the bathroom to have a nice hot shower.

Twenty minutes later and she pulling her hair from beneath her shirt as she walked back into the room. Climbing into bed she took a final sip of water before she slid down the bed and pulled the covers up over her to go to sleep, rolling to the side instinctively she pulled Paul's pillow closer to her but as she did and she smelt him it brought all of the thoughts and feelings that she had suppressed to the front of her mind again, throwing the pillow onto the floor she rolled over to face the other way and got as far away from his side of the bed as possible, tomorrow she would have to find time to change the bed as she wanted clean sheets that didn't smell of him.

Closing her eyes eyes she eventually fell asleep but her mind didn't really shut off as she knew that this weekend was going to be long and that she would need all of the patience she could get.


	4. Chapter 4

She wasn't sure how she had managed it but somehow all three girls were in the studio and ready for their classes and she was ready for a glass of wine. Aurora had been the only one who had gotten ready without a fuss, the other two had thrown fits, refused to eat, refused to put their shoes on and whined about their Dad not being there.

The coats were piled on a chair beside her with her bag and the girls were walking around her as she re-did Vaughn's hair so it was tied back when suddenly out of the corner of her eye she noticed Murphy and Aurora go running off, "Girls, come back here." Quickly tying Vaughn's hair she turned around expecting to see Paul but when she saw her Mom she was relieved, "What are you doing here?"

Walking through the doors Linda was immediately hugged by two of her Granddaughter's and she smiled hugging them both back before she ushered them further inside, "Come on, let's get away from these doors." Reaching her daughter she smiled, "Well I do owe these three ice cream so I thought we could all go for ice cream after their classes, if you don't mind."

Three sets of puppy dog eyes were immediately looking at her and she couldn't say no even though only one of the three really deserved the treat, "I guess but only if they're good in class and they have a proper lunch first."

Linda laughed at the squeal of excitement from her Granddaughter's and the dirty looks that got thrown their way from other parents, "You have yourself a deal."

Murphy was excited but she frowned, "I wish Daddy could come."

Jumping in before questions were asked she was going to have to contact him for the sake of the girls, "I will text him and see what's going on."

Luckily for her the girls were all called into their different classes so she pulled her phone from her bag to text her husband:

 _When we get home I will call so the girls can talk to you as they miss you. Do NOT miss this call or blow them off or you will regret it._

Sending the text she put her phone back into her bag not caring if he replied or not, he didn't deserve to have her full attention any more as she hasn't had his for a while. Looking at her Mom she was curious about one thing, "Why are you really here?"

Linda definitely was not expecting a direct question but she couldn't tell her the truth just yet as she seemed on edge and like she could snap at any moment, "Truthfully? Your Dad is getting on my nerves so I thought I would leave him home by himself and I'd spend some time with all of you. You don't mind do you?"

As long as she didn't ask her any questions about Paul she didn't mind at all, "Not really, the girls haven't been the most well behaved this morning so maybe with you around they will behave for a few hours."

There were so many questions that she could ask but judging by how frazzled her daughter was looking it was not the best time to be asking her them, "I hope so. So can we see any of the classes?"

"Of course, come on and I'll show you."

Paul wasn't even doing anything special when his phone beeped and he saw Stephanie's name but before he read the text he said a silent prayer that it was good news and she was ready to put things behind them but as he actually read the text he sighed, if anything she was more angry than she had been.

Rubbing his temples he didn't even know what he could do to sort things out with her but it had only been a few days so he was hoping with a few more days she would have cooled down sufficiently and he would be able to talk to her properly. If she didn't cool down then he would have to take advice from somebody on how to smooth things over but he wasn't sure who he would turn to because whoever he did talk to he was going to have to admit what he had done to them.

He didn't know how long he had until she would call but it would be at least an hour so he just had to make sure whatever he chose to do he kept an eye on his phone to make sure that he didn't miss the call as she would use that against him too.

Just over an hour later and the girls were all out of their classes and they were getting ready to leave, "So who wants to come with me and who wants to go with Mommy?"

Murphy raised her hand, "I come with Grandma please."

Linda looked at Stephanie who just nodded, "That's settled, Murphy's coming with me so we will meet you all at the restaurant."

Stephanie watched her Mom walk off hand in hand with one of her daughters before she escorted the other two to her car.

Once Murphy was secured in the back of the car and she had pulled off Linda looked in the mirror at her, "So your Mom tells me you girls misbehaved this morning."

Murphy frowned, "I miss Daddy."

There were so many questions that Linda wanted to ask but she had to be careful, "Why? Where's he been?"

Shrugging her shoulders the little girl looked at the floor, "Dunno, he gone Thursday and he no call."

Now she was really confused, she was sure that Vince had told her the previous evening that he had seen Paul at the office and if he was at the office why wasn't he at home and why hadn't he called? Deciding that it was for the best if she didn't push the Paul issue as she could take it up with her own husband later she changed the subject, "So what do you think about dance?"

Murphy's face immediately lit up and she began to excitedly tell her Grandma all about it.

A few hours later and Stephanie was finally home with the girls, "Shoes off and go and take a seat in the lounge please."

Kicking off her own shoes she followed the girls into the lounge and waited until they were all sat down before she scrolled through her contacts finding Paul's name before she called it and put it on speaker phone and then placed it on the coffee table, "Be good and no fighting please or I'll take it away."

Walking into the kitchen she needed to be anywhere but in that room as they talked to Paul because if she stayed there then she would crack and she would forgive him because despite everything that he had done to her she couldn't fault him as a Father most of the time.

Every few minutes Paul was checking his phone to make sure he hadn't missed the call as it had been a few hours since Stephanie's text and he hadn't moved from his hotel room through fear of this being the only chance he would have to talk to the girls. When his phone eventually began to ring he snatched it up unsure of who would actually be on the other end, "Hello?"

The second they heard their Father's voice the girls were out of their seats and kneeling on the floor crowded around the phone with Murphy and Vaughn both talking trying to tell him everything.

Chuckling Paul had absolutely no idea what was being said as he couldn't make out much from their excited chatter but it made him feel better to hear it, "Slow down girls, I can only hear you one at a time but you'll all get a chance to talk."

Having allowed the girls a chance to talk to their Father Stephanie stood in the doorway of the lounge watching them all around the phone, the two younger girls were a lot more excited than Aurora but she assumed she was just subdued to allow her sisters chance to talk to him.

Paul was really happy talking to his daughter's but he was missing hearing from his oldest daughter, "Hey girls why don't you let your sister talk for a minute. How are you Rory?"

Hearing his voice directed at her it just angered Aurora and she jumped up from the floor, "Why do you care? You're never here." Storming out of the room she ran past her Mom and went straight up the stairs slamming her bedroom door behind her before she threw herself on the bed.

Watching her daughter leave she hated how upset she was right now, "I'm going to go and check on your sister, be good."

Making her way slowly up the stairs she wanted to give her daughter a moment to calm down before she spoke with her as her daughter had the McMahon temper on occasion.

Standing outside of her room she took a deep breath before she knocked on the door and opened it stepping inside, "Are you okay Aurora?"

Aurora turned over on her bed and looked the other way not wanting to get shouted at.

Slowly walking to the bed she took a seat beside her and rubbed her back gently, "I will go with things not being okay then. Talk to me please Aurora, I am worried about you."

Rolling onto her back Aurora looked at her Mom and frowned, "Dad doesn't care about us, he's never here. I don't know why he is pretending now, it won't last."

She wasn't even sure if she wanted to know what her daughter was referring to but she needed to hear it so that she could help her through it, "Of course your Dad is always here, you know he is only on the road for Raw, Smackdown, pay per views and then when he has the NXT television tapings and very few other dates."

Sitting up Aurora crossed her legs and held her feet, "But he's not Mom. How many times are you both in town and he isn't here when we need him the most?"

Listening to her nine year old daughter talk scared her, she was so smart and had picked up on so much that she had hoped that she was shielding her from, "I'm sorry that you feel that way about your Dad, I will talk to him about spending more time with you girls."

The little girl just shrugged, "Don't bother, he won't care. I'd rather spend time with you."

Shuffling closer to her daughter she tucked some of her hair behind her ear, "Okay. What would you like to do then? We can do whatever you want to do tomorrow."

"Bake! Can we make cookies please."

The smile on her daughter's face was something she lived for so seeing it made her feel better, "Of course. Tomorrow we can spend the entire day baking and seeing how much of it we can make edible."

Squealing with delight Aurora threw herself at her Mom wrapping her arms tightly around her, "I love you Mommy."

Falling back on the bed she hugged her daughter tightly, "I love you too." A few tears escaped her eyes as she held her daughter tightly.

Murphy and Vaughn came running up the stairs after the phone call with their Dad ended to find their Mom and sister and when they found them hugging on the bed they both clambered onto the bed wanting a part of the hug and fell on top of their sister.

Laughing under the weight of her daughters this was the best feeling and it gave her something to live for, "I love you all so very much, never forget it."

After ending the call with his daughter's he stared at his phone trying to understand why Aurora was so cold towards him but when he thought about it she was her Mother's daughter so it did make sense, that or Stephanie had said something to her to turn he against him but he really hoped that she hadn't stooped that low.

Throwing his phone down onto the bed he got up to change and go and get a workout in because suddenly he was feeling stressed out and needed to release his pent up emotions somehow because he had work that he needed to get done.

Linda arrived home and walked straight to her husband's office and went straight inside not caring to knock. Leaning on the desk she stared her husband right in the eyes, "Why did you tell me that you saw Paul in the office yesterday when he clearly wasn't there?"

Removing his glasses he placed them on his desk and looked at his wife, "Well hello to you too. I would tell you that I saw Paul in the office yesterday because I did. I saw him with my own two eyes so why would you think I can't see things clearly?"

As she looked at her husband she believed him and suddenly she was feeling weak so she grabbed a chair and sat down, "I don't understand."

Confused he got out of his seat and moved to sit next to his wife on the other side of his desk, "What don't you understand about him going to work like he is paid to do?"

"I took the girls for ice cream, I drove Murphy so it was just the two of us in the car. Stephanie had said how the girls had misbehaved so I asked Murphy about it and she said that Paul left on Thursday and that they hadn't seen him since."

Vince eyed his wife strangely, "Didn't you say that Stephanie randomly called and asked you to take the girls out to dinner on Thursday night?"

Nodding her head, "Yes she did. Paul answered the door and then when I returned there was no sign of him."

"You don't think that she kicked him out do you?"

That was the thought going around in her head but it was weird hearing it out loud, "If we were to go with that theory then why would she kick him out?"

He knew what she meant but the thoughts of what could be the cause scared him as a Father, "I don't know."

Unfortunately knowing her daughter and seeing the state she was in today and thinking back to how she was on Thursday Linda had one theory, "You don't think he could have cheated on her do you?"

He had thought that, he just didn't want to say it out loud but now that his wife had said it it seemed to give his brain permission to think of nothing but that, "He couldn't, he wouldn't . . . would he?"


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you to everybody who supports this story, I honestly wouldn't have continued it without the support you have shown.

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After spending the entire day baking with the girls they were all a mess and the kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it and would take forever to clean up but they were all sat around the table with a cupcake in front of them, "I will make dinner soon but we can treat ourselves with a cupcake to see if they're edible, what do you think?"

All three girls were quick to nod their heads which didn't surprise her, "So who is going to be the bravest one who tries their cupcake first?" Rolling her eyes when they all pointed at her she slowly peeled off the wrapper and took a bite chewing it slowly before she pretended to choke and die dramatically falling to the floor and laying there for a minute.

The girls quickly slid off their chairs and surrounded her, "Is she dead?"

Murphy glared at her younger sister, "She's not moving."

Aurora studied their Mom unsure on if she had really died, "Someone should poke her, Vaughn poke her."

Doing as her older sister told her to she gently poked her Mom in the arm and when she didn't move she poked her again a little harder, "Dead."

Stealing her moment Stephanie opened her eyes and quickly grabbed her youngest pulling her into her lap and tickled her, "Got you."

Murphy frowned and stomped her foot, "Mommy I was scared."

Reaching out she wrapped her arm around her and pulled her close kissing her cheek, "I'm sorry baby girl, it was just a bit of fun."

Resting her head on her Mom's she frowned, "I forgive you."

Smiling she was pleased, "Good, I'm glad. So why don't we all sit back at the table and eat our cupcakes properly?"

The girls were in their seats before she had even finished talking. Climbing up off the floor she took a seat back at the table to finish her cupcake.

Whilst the girls were eating their dinner Stephanie set about clearing up the kitchen before she began to bathe the girls and put them to bed.

Laying next to Murphy as she drifted off to sleep she was relaxed drifting off into her own little world when through the darkness she heard her little voice, "When you go to Raw you'll come back won't you? Daddy didn't come back and I don't wanna lose you too."

She was so glad that it was dark they couldn't really see each other because she felt awful and she didn't want to see the pain on her daughter's face because it was hard enough hearing it in her voice, "I promise that I will be here for you and your sisters always and forever."

Once Murphy was asleep she put Aurora to bed before she went to change to get a workout in, she really wasn't hungry so working off the calories from the cooking sounded like a better idea.

Walking into the bedroom she changed before she went downstairs and picked up her phone to check the video that Joe had made. Just as she was about to open the video she thought back to what Murphy had said and changed her mind opening a text to her Dad instead:

 _I'm not going to make it to Raw tomorrow. Sorry for the late notice but the girls need me here. If anybody asks just say I couldn't make it please._

Sending the text to her Father she then watched the video from Joe as she made her way down to the gym.

The next morning Paul had no idea how they were going to play this when she wouldn't talk to him and they were meant to be married and living together but they were going to arrive at the plane to go to Raw separately and then there was the fact that they had to play a married couple on TV and she couldn't even bear to be in the same room as him.

Packing and re-packing his bag he eventually managed to get himself organised enough to have breakfast before he left.

He got the cab to drop him off out of view of everyone and he walked over to the plane climbing aboard and slipping out of view of everybody not wanting to deal with the drama if he had arrived before she had or if she had arrived first he could pretend that he had been there all along.

Vince was starting to panic wondering where Paul was as he had heard nothing about him not being there aswell as Stephanie. Making his way through to a quieter part of the plane to call Paul he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him sat there, "What are you doing here? I was waiting for you."

Looking up at his Father-in-Law it was good news that he wasn't ripping in to him and seemed none the wiser as to what was going on between himself and Stephanie, "Sorry, I didn't want to get in the way as it sounded like a lively discussion."

He didn't believe him for a second but he wasn't interested in arguing with him about it, "I know you're here now and we can finally leave so that is all that really matters."

Paul watched Vince walk off before he made his way through to the other part of the plane to see if his wife would even look in his direction. As he walked through the curtain the first thing he noticed was that she wasn't there. Taking a seat he tried not to draw attention to himself because if anybody asked where Stephanie was he was fucked.

Closing his eyes he could already feel a headache coming on and he tried to will it away until he head, "So where's the wife?"

Slowly opening his eyes he lifted his head and tried to think of an answer but all that came out was sarcasm, "Not here."

Walking back into the area Vince heard his son-in-law's response and knew what the question was so stepped in before an argument started, and he was only worried about Paul starting it, "She stayed home to be with the girls. Sometimes a woman's instinct tells her things and they follow that instinct."

Discreetly looking at Vince it was almost like he knew what had happened but if he really knew what had happened he would not be sitting on this plane right now, he would probably still be in the hotel room as he would have fired him. Rubbing his face wearily he was tired and really didn't know how he was going to get through today or even this week as it felt like everybody was messing with his head.

Sitting down in his seat Vince waited until they were at a safe flying altitude before he took out his phone to text his wife:

 _When someone asked Paul where Stephanie was he said 'not here', he didn't know she wasn't going to be here, he is not living at home for sure as he's a mess._

Sending the text he placed the phone face down on the table in front of him and turned his attention to the conversation going on around him.

Stephanie quickly ushered the girls out of the house, "Come on, Mommy's got to get to work."

There were moans of disapproval as the girls climbed into the car but she made sure they all had their bags before she shut the door and then climbed into the car and started the engine.

Pulling out of the driveway she looked in the mirror as she heard murmuring from behind her, "What's going on back there? You're not plotting how to skip school are you?"

Murphy put her hands on he hips elbowing both of her sisters as she did so, "Of course not Mommy, I get a new book."

Smiling at her daughter that was the perfect response to make her morning amazing, "And we don't want you missing out on that because how else are you going to beat your sister in the race to reading twenty books by summer. If you weren't plotting how to skip school what were you talking about?"

All of the girls looked between themselves before Aurora spoke up, "We wondered if you would be home tomorrow or would be gone forever like Daddy."

Hearing her daughter's wondering whether she was going to be gone forever was like a punch to the gut and made her feel sick, "You know I always tell you straight up if I have to be gone for more than Raw and trust me, I will be taking you to school in the morning."

The rest of the drive to the school was done with the only sound in the car being that coming from the Frozen soundtrack she had playing because all three of them loved that movie. Pulling up outside of the school she climbed out of the car letting them all out, "Now be good, do as your teachers tell you to do and I will see you later. I love you all."

After hugging each daughter and making sure they made it into school okay Stephanie climbed back into the driver's seat and picked up her phone from the centre console scrolling through her contacts until she reached a familiar number and called it waiting for the phone to be answered, "Hi it's Stephanie, I won't need you to pick the girls up from school today as I am going to be home and I can do it but it will be the same as normal tomorrow."

Ending the call she made her way home as she needed to set up for the meeting so that she could do her job and contribute no matter what state her mind was in.

Sitting down at the desk in her office she pulled up all of the information on her computer just as the meeting started and focussed her entire attention on the words being spoken and not the voices speaking them throughout the meeting because it allowed her to focus on her job and not think about her husband.

When the meeting ended she ended the call and looked through her notes to see if she could add anything but her eyes were drawn to the photo frame on her desk, picking it up she traced the smiling faces of her daughter's and husband sighing heavily thinking about how good things had been and how they were now. Her mind drifted to Murphy's comments in the car earlier and she realised that for the sake of the girls certain things needed to be explained to them and they needed to set up a schedule for him to see them because she did not want the kids missing out just because they weren't getting on.

Replacing the frame on her desk she picked up her cell phone to text her husband:

 _Come over Wednesday evening so you can explain that you're not living at home to the girls, they need stability._

Sending the text she moved from her seat to get some lunch as she was starving.

Stood talking to a few of the agents when his phone beeped he removed it from his pocket and saw it from his wife so excused himself from the conversation, he couldn't remember the last time she had sent him a text so he was a mixture of happy and nervous now she had sent him one. Walking away he opened the text and his stomach dropped when he read it, she wanted to explain things to the girls which meant she was really serious about the separation and there seemed to be no hope of him returning home any time soon. His thumbs hovered over the keyboard ready to reply but he wasn't sure what to say, he didn't want to blow things completely but he wasn't entirely happy about being completely shut out of the girls lives either and at that moment he knew how he wanted to reply:

 _And what about seeing and talking to them regularly? I miss them, I miss all of you._

Hitting send before he lost his bottle he wasn't sue if he had just made a bad move by saying he missed her too but he wasn't giving up, he didn't know how to fight for her properly yet because he wasn't sure what he was dealing with but he wasn't giving up hope that it would just blow over.

Returning to her office with a salad she sat down and instinctively checked her phone and saw his message, she couldn't deny that the girls missed him a lot too so she had to push her feelings aside for their sake:

 _We can arrange for you to call every night before they go to bed & you can see them every weekend, when you're living somewhere stable they can stay overnight._

Sending the text she was proud of herself for putting her own feelings aside for the girl's sake and being able to think of something that would hopefully make him, and more importantly the girls, happy. Setting her phone back on her desk she sat back and picked up her salad and began to tuck in.

Staring at his phone waiting for her reply the second he beeped he had it unlocked and was staring at it but he wasn't sure how he felt now that he was reading her comments, he was kind of hoping that she would have given him a time frame to move home and not talk about him having somewhere stable to live. He didn't know if, when or how he would have a stable home that wasn't his home with her but for now he would be grateful that she was going to allow him to talk to the girls and see them at least on the weekend, it was better than he had now:

 _Thank you, I appreciate it. Can I call tonight please?_

His response surprised her, she thought he would fight her on him getting a stable home but him simply thanking her sort of depressed her, she wanted him to fight for her, for them, she didn't want for him to give up if he really loved her but as he was then maybe her gut was right, he strayed because he didn't love her anymore:

 _Sure, you know their bedtime so just call before then._

Sending the text she placed her phone out of sight and tried not to think about what was said and what was really meant, she couldn't think about it because she would probably end up crying and she didn't want to cry a tear for him any more because he just wasn't worth it apparently.


	6. Chapter 6

Happy belated Birthday **AttitudeEraChick** , I hope you enjoy this :)

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It had been two very long days for Stephanie, they weren't long because work had been busy but because she hadn't be able to shut her husband out and pretend he didn't exist because he had called every night to speak to the girls. She had stood and watched the girls as they spoke to him Monday night and much like Saturday the younger two were happy and excited to talk to him but Aurora had been quite quiet and closed off.

Wednesday had arrived far too quickly for Stephanie but it was here now and she was trying to get her work done but it was getting harder by the minute as it got closer to the evening and she became more and more concerned about how the girls would take things. She was brought out of her own thoughts by a knock at her office door, "Yes?"

Paul had tried giving her space and not go near her in the hope that a miracle would happen and when he did see her she would forget what had happened and would realise how much she loved and missed him. He had succeeded for the most part but unfortunately there was something he had to discuss with her so he couldn't stay away any more.

Taking a break from his work he made his way to her office and knocked gently on the door waiting to be invited in. As soon as he had permission to enter he walked in and closed the door behind him, "Hi. Do you have a moment to discuss tonight please?"

Looking at her husband stood there in front of her look slightly dishevelled it was really hard for her to control her natural instinct to go to him and to tidy him up but she didn't want to do that, she couldn't do that as it would send the wrong message to him and to her heart. His desire to discuss the evening concerned her, she was not going to be the one who broke the girl's hearts so she hoped he wasn't backing out, "What about it?"

"What is the protocol? Do I come home with you? Am I to turn up at a certain time? How long can I stay? You know that kind of thing."

Running her fingers through her hair she let out a slow breath not realising that she had held her breath as he had started talking, "I guess you can come home with me, it has been a week nearly since they saw you and the girls have missed you so I'm sure they'll all want cuddles. I will play how long you can stay by ear, it depends how things go. Is there anything else?"

He wasn't sure how to react to what she had said, it was detached and almost clinical and that was not the Stephanie he knew and loved as she was so warm and loving normally, "Okay thank you. There is nothing else, I will let you get back to work. Thank you for this Stephanie."

Nodding her head in acknowledgement she turned her attention back to work signalling that she was done and letting him see himself out.

Walking towards her car just have six o'clock Stephanie wasn't surprised when she felt like somebody was following her and turned around to see him there. Breathing a sigh of relief she was glad that it was Paul because internally she had begun to panic thinking that it could be somebody following her to hurt her.

Seeing the strain on her face when she turned to look at him before her body relaxed when she recognised him he felt guilty as he hadn't meant to stress her out, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Her first instinct was to lie to him but he knew her well so would know when that she was lying. Getting lost in the memory of what he had done and how she apparently didn't know him aswell as she thought she did as she couldn't tell that he had been lying to her she didn't even answer him as she turned to walk the rest of the way to her car to go home.

The silence and the way she walked away from him without any sort of response was concerning, he was only being polite but she couldn't even muster a polite response in return. Splitting away from her in the car park he went towards his car to go home and see his babies.

Pulling into the garage Stephanie stepped back into the driveway to go in through the front door as Paul had come home with her. She shut the garage door as he pulled into the driveway and parked getting out of his car. Staring up at the house that he considered his home he missed it, he missed his wife and he missed his girls. Looking at his wife who was staring at him he missed the love he would see in her eyes because right now they were cold and blank.

Ignoring the looks she was getting from him she looked at the house, "Are you coming in or what?"

"I'm coming, sorry."

His apology meant nothing as she turned around with keys in hand and opened the door, "I'm home and I have a surprise." Stepping to the side she watched and waited as she heard rustling as the girls stopped what they were doing and came running to see what their surprise was.

Paul smiled at the look on his daughter's faces when they saw him, "I'm back."

Turning to glare at him she hated that he used that word, he wasn't 'back', he was just visiting. She didn't say anything but watched as a rush of blonde ran squealing towards Paul. Turning to see where Aurora was she was surprised when she felt her arms wrap around her, "Missed you Mommy."

Surprised to be given any attention she hugged he daughter tightly as she needed the hug, "I missed you too baby girl, and your sisters. Don't you want to hug your Dad?"

Aurora knew she wouldn't get anywhere near her Dad with her sisters there and she'd rather hug the parent who had been there for her, "Murphy and Vaughn will hog him."

Kissing her daughter's cheek she brushed her hair back out of her daughter's face so she could look at her properly, "Is that the only reason?"

Pulling away from her Mom she didn't want to talk about it with her Dad stood right there with her sisters because she didn't want to get shouted at, "Yeah."

Studying her daughter she knew when she was lying to her and she was definitely lying but judging by the way her eyes were darting around and kept looking at Paul it had something to do with him, "Okay then, if you say so."

Relieved that she wasn't in trouble for lying Aurora ran back to the lounge to watch the rest of her cartoon.

Hugging two of his daughters tightly he smothered them both with kisses, "I missed you both so much." Glancing up he noticed that Aurora was with Stephanie so he would let them have their moment and then he would hug his eldest daughter as he missed her too.

After giving his youngest two a few minutes attention he stood up properly, "I'm going to say hello to your sister so why don't you go back into the lounge?" Making sure the girls weren't going to argue he turned to say something to Aurora but she wasn't there, "What the hell?"

"She's gone back into the lounge, I think she was bored of waiting for you to notice her."

Feeling defensive he stepped closer to her, "I did notice her, she chose to come to you first."

Rolling her eyes she shook her head not even sure who this man was as the old Paul would have made room for all three daughters and made sure he was hugging them all, "She thought her sisters would take all of your attention and she was right. If you really are interested in her then you will find her in the lounge."

He didn't know where she got off being all high and mighty and he wasn't going to dignify her comments with a response so just made his way into the lounge and sat down beside his eldest daughter wrapping his arm around her shoulder and leaned down to kiss the top of her head, "It's so good to see you again, I missed you Princess."

"That's what you always say, you're never here though." She hadn't meant to say that but the words had just come out and it wasn't like it was lies anyway.

Pulling his daughter closer he didn't understand, "I'm here as much as I can be though, you know I have to travel for work sometimes though."

Rolling her eyes she crossed her arms, "Even when you're home you're not here."

Stephanie stepped in because she did not want an argument to erupt when he was here for one main reason, "Your Dad wanted to talk to you girls."

Turning to look at his wife he didn't understand, "I did?"

Nodding her head she remained in the doorway, "Yes, you know about those arrangements."

Standing up he walked over to his wife and gently ushered her out of the room and towards the kitchen shutting the door behind them, "What the hell are you talking about Stephanie?"

Leaning against the counter she stared at him, "I'm not going to be one the one who breaks our daughter's hearts. You value your family and marriage vows so little that you can go in there and explain to my precious baby girls that you no longer live here and also how much you guarantee that you will see them."

"Seriously Stephanie? You are not going to help me at all? You expect me to explain it all?"

Nodding her head she turned and opened the fridge pulling out a bottle of water for herself, "Exactly. If you could manage to do it soon I'd be grateful though, the girls need to start getting ready for bed."

He knew he shouldn't say it but the words just fell out of his mouth, "When did you get so cold?"

"When I found out that my husband was fucking another woman." The response was harsh but if he was going to accuse her of being cold then she was going to be brutally honest with him and see how he liked it then.

They were in a stale mate with neither backing down but Paul was afraid that she would kick him out before he got to spend some more time with the girls so he reluctantly opened the kitchen door and made his way back to the lounge. Entering the lounge he sighed as he looked at his girls all sat together on the couch, he was going to miss being able to squeeze his way into the middle of them and have them cuddle into his sides as they watched television together but it was only temporary and then he would be back home.

Unscrewing the top of the water Stephanie tipped her head back and drank a quarter of the bottle as she was thirsty before she put the top back on and followed him to the lounge getting there just in time to see him turn the television off and the girls to start complaining. Leaning against the door frame she wasn't getting any closer so he couldn't draw her into it and it also meant that she could run from the room quickly and unnoticed if and when the conversation got too much for her.

Turning off the television he ignored the complaints from the girls as he sat down in front of them, "Girls I need to talk to you and I need you to really listen to me." Waiting until he was certain that they were listening to him he had no idea how to word it, "You know how I haven't been home for the last week? Well me and your Mom have come to a decision that things will be like that for the time being with me not living here with you all."

He was unable to get more of an explanation out because Murphy cut in, "Don't you love us any more?"

Stephanie shook her head unable to stop the words tumbling from her mouth, "Of course your Dad still loves you, it's just me he doesn't love any more."

Lifting his head he glared at his wife as that wasn't true or helpful, "Girls I love you all very much but sometimes adults have to give each other space. Just because I'm not here every night it doesn't mean that I'm not going to call you every night and when your Mom says it's okay I'll come and visit during the week. At the weekends we can spend all day Saturday together after your dance class and I'm sure some Sundays you'll see me too depending on when I have to fly out for Raw or if there is a pay per view."

Bursting into tears Murphy ignored her Father's attempts at comforting her and ran straight towards her Mom hugging her tightly.

The second her daughter ran into her Stephanie got onto her knees placing her water bottle on the floor somewhere caring only about wrapping her arms around her daughter holding her close, "It's okay baby girl, it'll all be okay."

Paul looked back at his oldest and youngest daughters, "Are you okay girls?"

Vaughn didn't really understand what was going on so just went to sit on her Father's lap because he was here and she hadn't cuddled him in a while and Aurora frowned, "Nothing's changed Dad, you've not been here for ages." Getting up from her seat she went over to her Mom and hugged her sister wanting to make her feel better.

Watching his oldest two daughters with Stephanie whilst he hugged his youngest tightly he realised exactly what he had lost, seeing the heartbreak in the eyes of the daughter that everybody called his 'mini-me' and the attitude that their oldest daughter had towards him hurt. As a parent this was everything he had sworn he would never do to them but that was exactly what he had done and there was no way for him to take it back and make it all better and there was no magic wand he could wave to stop the hurt that all of them were feeling, he could only hope that Stephanie would be able to forgive him and that they could move on as a family and he could rebuild his life.


	7. Chapter 7

Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all had a safe and happy celebration.

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Stephanie spent a long time hugging Murphy and when Aurora joined them she just opened her arms wider and held her also, "Mommy loves you babies."

Paul hated that he was being shut out of their lives, "Can I put them to bed please?"

Looking down at the daughters in her arms neither were overly eager to be near him right now she she brushed the hair back from their faces, "Girls what do you say? Do you want your Dad to stay to put you to bed?"

Aurora's only response was a shrug of her shoulders whilst Murphy eagerly nodded her head, "Please."

It ultimately wasn't what she wanted but it was what they wanted so she was going to push her wants and needs aside for them. Looking at her husband she couldn't deny that he looked hopeful and like he actually wanted it, "Okay you can stay. I will go and bathe Vaughn a minute and you can spend time with Murphy and Aurora and whilst you put her to bed I'll bathe the other two." Holding her hand out to Vaughn she just needed this to go smoothly, "Come on Vaughn, let's get you bathed and ready for bed."

Sat on the couch she found that she wasn't able to relax knowing that he was upstairs. It was awful not being able to relax around her own husband but she just didn't trust him any more and the less time she spent in his presence the happier she would be.

Vaughn had fallen asleep almost straight away but he had remained there on her bed cuddling with her before he went to cuddle with Murphy and read with her until she went to sleep.

Closing the book as they reached the end Paul looked down at his daughter who was still looking pretty wide awake, "Do you want me to read another book with you?"

Snuggling closer to her Dad she shook her head, "Just cuddle."

Wrapping his arm around her he kissed the top of her head, "Whatever you wish."

As they cuddled together her eyes started drooping as sleep crept up on her but before it took over she had one question for her Dad, "Do you love Mommy? Casey said that his Daddy left because he didn't love his Mommy any more."

He had so many questions going around in his head about why children who were seven years old were talking about their parents leaving but his biggest problem was reassuring his daughter despite the fact that he didn't know himself what was going to happen, "Of course I love your Mommy, I love her very very much and she is my world just like you and your sisters. Just because Casey's Dad left because he didn't love his Mom any more it doesn't mean that things between your Mom and I will be the same because I for one love her very much and I'm not giving up on my family."

There was a murmur of acknowledgement from Murphy before she soon fell asleep meaning Paul could move on to Aurora.

Walking into her bedroom he couldn't help but sigh seeing her sat up in bed reading, "You do know you're meant to be going to sleep right?"

She didn't take her eyes off her book when she replied to him, "I know but it's really good and it makes me sleepy."

"Well why don't you finish the paragraph that you are on and then we can cuddle before you go to sleep."

She still didn't take her eyes off her book, "It's okay, I'll just read for a bit and then go to sleep."

Walking over to the bed he snatched the book out of her hand, "It's non-negotiable Aurora. I have missed you and I really would like to enjoy lying with you as you go to sleep okay?"

"Have you? Do you know how many nights I have missed you and wished you were here lying with me as I go to sleep and you've not been here? You always have somewhere better to be, somewhere that isn't here with us." Sliding down in bed she rolled over so her back was to him and grabbed her favourite teddy bear and cuddled it close.

There was nothing he could say to make up for not being there so despite her apparently reluctance to allow him to join her he carefully climbed onto the bed behind her and leaned down kissing her cheek softly, "I love you. Sleep well Aurora." Laying down he draped his arm over her waist crossing his fingers that she didn't throw it off.

As much as she argued that she didn't want him there she did want him to be there so it was nice to have her Dad there for once and having him holding her was even better. Resting her hand over his she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Paul waited a while after he thought Aurora was asleep before he moved because he didn't want to disturb her and she had been the most resistant to him being here so he just wanted to make the most of the time. Now he had to go downstairs and face his wife.

Closing her eyes briefly when she heard him walking down the stairs she tried to compose herself so that no arguments began that would wake the girls up because she was going to continue to try to shield them from everything as much as possible. Opening her eyes she stood up from the couch and turned around just in time to see him enter the lounge, "You're leaving now."

He hoped that having him there putting the girls to bed would help her remember how good things were when they were together and that he'd be able to talk to her but when her first words to him were 'you're leaving now' and not a question about whether they were all asleep it was disappointing, "Actually Steph I was hoping we cou . . ."

Cutting him off before he could finish that sentence she did not want to hear it, "You are lucky I allowed you to stay to put the girls to bed, do not push your luck and try to push me on anything."

Putting his hands up in defence he wasn't in the mood to fight her, "I wasn't going to fight you, I was going to ask you what time was good on Saturday? I'll pick the girls up and take them to dance and keep them all day or we can meet there or somewhere else or anything that suits you."

The prospect of being away from her girls all day actually hurt right now, what would she do for an entire day on her own? Normally she wouldn't be apart from them all day but what time she did have there were so many things she would do but now she just didn't know how to feel bout the prospect of being alone all day.

Watching his wife as she didn't answer him he couldn't decide if she was ignoring him because she thought if she stayed quiet he would just go away or if she was somewhere else, he seemed to have lost the ability to read her mind. Deciding to almost risk his life he was going to push her to see if she had drifted off into her thoughts, "Steph?"

Looking at him she realised that she hadn't answered him, "We'll meet there." She really hoped he was going to leave now, she couldn't bear to be in the same house as him as there were so many questions she didn't have answers to but she just wasn't ready to find out the entire truth.

Nodding his head he wasn't going to maintain the awkwardness any longer as it was clear that she wasn't thawing at all, "I'm going to head out as I'm sure you want to eat as much as I do. Thank you for letting me put the girls to bed and I'll call them tomorrow before they go to bed. Night Steph, sleep well." Resisting the urge to go and kiss her cheek before he left he turned and left the house shutting the front door firmly behind him as he wanted his family kept safe.

She watched him leave silently feeling like she was outside of her body just watching the scene play out in front of her. Every single time she was around him all she could think of was 'where did it all go wrong?' and tonight was no different. Rubbing her temples she made her way to the kitchen, she needed to eat before Joe arrived.

It was the first time they had really gotten to talk since he returned from the TV tapings and Linda was desperate to hear full details from her husband as he had told her little things here and there over the past two days. Dinner was ready to be served as soon as he walked through the door so within five minutes of him shutting the front door he was sat at the table in front of it.

They had both been waiting for this moment but now that it was here neither wanted to start the conversation as they both knew that the result was going to be confirmation in their heads and hearts that their daughter was in trouble. Taking a deep breath Vince was first to take the plunge, "I truly believe our gut instincts are correct when we say that Stephanie and Paul are separated. He isn't the same guy, he doesn't look the same, he doesn't act the same and when you look into his eyes there is something missing."

Her husband confirmed everything she already knew, "But why hasn't Stephanie said anything?"

"Maybe she's ashamed that they couldn't make their marriage work? Everyone has always told them that they are their relationship goal and they're perfect and made for each other so maybe she is ashamed and feels like she has let everybody down?"

Rolling her eyes she shook her head, "And you can look me in the eye and tell me that you honestly believe that they have separated because their marriage just doesn't work can you?" When her husband refused to meet her gaze he proved her point, "Exactly. They're not apart because they just don't work any more, they're apart because something big has happened between them and as a concerned Mother I am telling you that I am afraid about what happened and why she hasn't confided in me about it as normally we are so close. Do you think Shane would mind if his sister joined us on Sunday? I don't want to tell him our concerns for her but I also don't want to leave it too long to really try to get to the bottom of this all and if all of the kids are here then at least I can get her alone away from the kids so she will open up to me hopefully."

Vince could only shrug, "I can't see why he would mind, he does love his sister and I doubt they see each other as much as they would like so I'm sure it will be fine but ask him."

She was just about to put the hair tie in her hair when the doorbell rang, "Fuck." Looking at the time she saw that he was on time and she was running behind so she quickly tied her hair back and just grabbed her phone and shoes that were beside the dresser and ran out of the room to hopefully get to the front door before he actually woke the girls up.

Opening the door she forced a smile at Joe, "Hey, come in. Sorry I lost track of time but I was nearly ready so just go down and I'll put my shoes on and be down."

Shutting the door he chuckled at the way she spoke, "Or you could just come downstairs with me and put your shoes on whilst I set up and I could talk you through tonight. By the way, is Paul joining us tonight?"

Gulping she silently walked down the stairs to the basement gym not entirely sure how to have this conversation with him as it was just her now so maybe he wouldn't want to train her any longer as Paul was the one who originally employed him. Sitting down in the first chair she got to when she reached the gym she kept her head down and focussed on her shoes.

Reaching the gym Joe put his phone and keys on the top of the boxes and pulled a chair over and placed it in front of her and sat down, "Either I am going crazy or you are avoiding every single question I am asking about Paul. Steph what's going on? You know we're friends right and you can talk to me and I won't tell a soul."

Sitting up she sat back in her chair, now was as good a time as any to get some things out in the open and find out whether she needed a new trainer, "Paul won't be joining us, ever again. Paul and I . . . separated last week. I understand if you're no longer willing to train me and that I should have told you before now but I was avoiding talking about it and you're the first person I've told."

Scratching his head Joe looked at her oddly not sure what to answer first. Taking a deep breath he decided to start with what was bothering him the most, "You haven't told **anybody** about you and Paul? Not even your family?"

"Especially not my family. How do I tell them that the relationship they thought was so perfect wasn't so perfect after all?"

Reaching across he took her hands in his, "Stephanie I need you to listen to what I am about to say and I need you to believe me. Your family love you, no matter what they will want to be there by your side and support you through this. Bottling your feelings up and hiding it from them is not going to help you or them. No matter how much you try to shield them from the truth you work with your Dad all day every day and you have three young daughters who will let things slip and your family will find out. It is inevitable, you can't stop it from happening so you're better off being honest with them now before they find out from another way and you have more questions."

Glaring at him she hated how right he was, "Ugh, you are so fucking annoying."

Joe took no offence at that, he actually took it as a compliment and smirked, "I know, my wife tells me that all of the time."

Stephanie couldn't help but laugh and shake her head, "Well I'm just glad you're not offended."

"I was serious, she really does tell me I'm 'so fucking annoying' all of the time. As long as you want me to be I will still be your trainer though, I have no problem training just you as you're good to work with and you do as I tell you to."

Standing up she felt awkward about one thing, "What about your wife? Would she be okay with it with Paul not being on the scene at all and you coming to my house late at night?"

Also standing up he put his chair back, "Of course she would be, I don't even have to ask her to know that she trusts you and ultimately she trusts me and she knows that I love her with all of my heart and that I would not do something like that to her."

Turning around she squeezed her eyes tightly shut as tears pricked the back of her eyes, "So where are we starting?"

He didn't need to be Einstein to know that he had just hit a sore spot and he was mentally slapping himself for being so insensitive. Surveying the gym quickly he finally found what he was looking for, "I want you to warm up and then we are going to get down to business."

Just as she was about to start working her phone beeped, "I promise I will start warming up as soon as I have read that." Walking back to her phone she picked it up surprised to see a message from her brother as normally he didn't text this late so it had to be important but when she opened the text it wasn't important at all:

 _My gang are going over to Mom and Dad's on Sunday and I wondered if you wanted to bring your gang and join us? I already asked so just let Mom know so she can cook more._

Resisting the urge to throw her phone against the wall she all but dropped it back onto the chair.

"So how did your phone insult you tonight?"

Beginning her stretches she groaned, "My brother sent me a text and I thought it was serious as he never normally texts me this late at night but nope, he just wanted to inform me that he was going to our parents with his wife and three boys this weekend and invited all of us along with him, I guess I will have no choice but to tell them what is going on because there is no way I can get out of it without questions and I have no way of explaining Paul's absence. I really love my life tonight."

He couldn't help but feel sorry for her, "Don't worry Steph, I have a plan in mind and you will get to imagine you are beating up people's faces as you work out so hopefully it will make you feel better."

True to his word Joe did have an exercise in mind that allowed her to take out all of her frustration at certain people by imagining she was beating up their faces and it did make her feel better.

Standing by the door Joe had his hand on the handle and was about to leave when she stopped him, "You know what we talked about earlier?"

He knew what was coming next and he understood why she had to say it but to him she didn't need to, "I won't tell a soul anything that you said to me, not even my wife if you want me to. Steph I love you dearly as a friend and I know how precious your privacy is to you so don't worry that I will tell anybody because I won't."

Surprising him she hugged him gently, "Thank you Joe, I really appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Absolutely, sleep well Steph."

She watched him get to his car making sure that he left safely before she shut and locked the front door to head upstairs to shower and go to bed, tomorrow she had to tell her Mom that they were coming over on Sunday but right now she wasn't even sure how much she was going to tell her. She was suddenly feeling like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders so skipped bed and went back down to the gym.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you to everybody for all of your comments and reviews, you're the best and give me some major motivation to keep writing :) There have been mentions of people wanting to meet the other woman so here you are, I hope you like her *whistles innocently*

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After leaving home Paul returned to the hotel and ordered room service, he was going to pick something up whilst he was out but his mind was elsewhere and he had forgotten.

Pulling his cell phone from his pocket he turned it on having turned it off when he had arrived home as he wanted his entire focus to be on the girls whilst he had them. Whilst his phone booted up he shrugged off his jacket and pulled off his tie that was loosely hanging around his neck and threw them both onto a chair. He had barely let go of the clothing when his phone began to beep a lot so he quickly made his way back to the bed hoping that it wasn't Stephanie and he hadn't missed something important. Snatching up his phone he had so many messages it didn't tell him who they were from and he also noticed one voice mail notification.

Rushing to open his messages he frowned when he got into them and saw that all ten messages were from Kacey, ignoring them for now he dialled the retrieval number for his voice mail and sat there tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for it to eventually start playing.

"Paul it's me, I don't know if you got my messages over the past few weeks or not but I've been in town and you've not come by. I'll be in town again on Wednesday just a flying visit for the day but I'm sure we can find time to have lunch or I can delay heading back and we can meet up after work, just let me know."

Rubbing his face wearily he thought she would get the message when he straight up ignored her but apparently not. Deleting the voice mail he went back into his messages and began to read them:

 _I'm in town this week. Do you want to catch up?_

 _Paul?_

 _Do you still have this number?_

 _Why aren't you replying?_

 _I can't stop thinking about how good your cock feels in my pussy. Are you thinking about me?_

 _Do you want to do lunch or meet after work on Wednesday?_

 _I'm just going to jump in the shower so don't call me right now._

 _I am out of the shower and in your favourite outfit, nothing. If you want to see you know what to do._

 _I can't wait to have your cock in my mouth and watch you get nothing but pleasure to take away your stress. I bet your wife doesn't suck you as good as I do._

The next text wasn't actually a message, it was a picture of what he could only assume was her naked and pleasuring herself, if Stephanie saw that she would go mad and it would ruin his marriage for good. He had never exchanged sexts with Kacey before and he wasn't about to start now when he was done with her.

Deleting all of the messages he knew he should tell her that he wasn't interested any more so she would stop texting him but he just couldn't face the conversation however that plan changed when his phone began to ring, "What do you want Kacey?"

"Why are you ignoring me Paul? You wanted this as much as I did so what has changed?"

Standing up he began to pace back and forth in his hotel room, "What has changed? Everything has changed Kacey, I have lost **everything**. My wife has found out and thrown me out so I'm living out of a hotel and I have seen my daughters once in a week. My life is hell and it is all to do with my relationship with you. I can't do it any more, I don't want to lose my wife forever, I don't want to be a part time Dad. I want to rebuild all of the relationships I have destroyed and the first step of doing that is ending this, no contact, no meetings, nothing."

Kacey was shocked that he was just ending things like that, "What do you mean Paul? Why end it with me, your wife has done you a favour by ending your marriage, we can be together now."

"I don't want to be with you Kacey, I never have and never will. As harsh as this sounds you were just a distraction from the stress I was feeling in my life and there was nothing more to it."

He may be saying that he didn't want to be with her but she knew the truth, she knew that he wanted to be with her but he was scared so she would give him time, "That's okay Paul, I understand."

Expecting her to argue with him because he didn't think she would take it well he didn't take in what she had said, "I'm serious Kacey, I . . . wait, you understand? So you will not contact me any more and we can part and move on with our lives?"

"Sure, whatever you say Paul."

Breathing a sigh of relief that meant that he could focus on his wife and getting his family back and not have to worry about the other woman, "Thank you, I appreciate that. I hope you find yourself a good man, goodbye Kacey."

Ending the call he failed to hear he say, "I've already found him."

Kacey wasn't giving up on Paul but he was done with her, he wanted to forget about the past three months and move forward and try and win Stephanie back. He had a lot of work to do and he knew it, he wasn't afraid of the work if it meant he could get his family back.

It was Sunday morning and Stephanie was trying to get organised to go over to her parent's but she was lacking some motivation because via text she had told her Mom that they would be there, she had just neglected to mention that it was only four of them and not five.

The girls were in the den playing and she was currently sat on the couch putting off calling them to put their shoes on when suddenly Murphy appeared beside her and sat down, "What's up?"

Raising her eyebrow she looked at her daughter, "Not much? What do you want Murphy?"

"Nothing."

Now Stephanie was getting suspicious as clearly her daughter was up to something, "Mmhmm, sure. Be honest or you might find yourself in your bedroom in time out."

Pouting the little girl crossed her arms, "No fair. I miss Gramma and Poppy, we hasn't seen them for ages."

Her head fell backwards and she stared at the ceiling saying a silent prayer to the universe to give her more chance to put it off and also cursing it for bringing her daughter to her right now, "It's funny that you should say that, Uncle Shane is going to be at Grandma and Poppy's today and he has invited us to go over and spend time with them and I was just about to ask you girls if you wanted to go."

Nodding her head vigorously the little girl jumped from the couch, "We do, we do." Running off she had to tell her sisters.

Slowly following her middle daughter she was about to ask them all to get ready when they all came running out of the den almost knocking her over, "When we leaving?"

Looking at her watch her initial thoughts that they needed to get ready now were correct, "As soon as we are all ready and I have done what I need to do. If you want to be useful you can all go and get your shoes and put them on and wait patiently for me to tell you that we are leaving." She didn't need to say anything else as the three girls ran off to apparently get their shoes on ready to leave, if only they followed her orders this well all of the time.

An hour later and Stephanie was pulling up outside of her parents house. Pulling next to her brother's car she turned off the engine but as she looked at the house she was feeling her desire to be here getting smaller.

Just as she was about to turn the engine back on and leave she heard a little voice from the back of the car say almost in a stage whisper to her sisters, "Do you think Gramma will make Mommy happy?" Gulping she squeezed her eyes tightly shut before she took a deep breath slowly exhaling it as she opened her car door and climbed out opening the rear door to allow the girls to climb out. Shutting the car doors she locked it as the girls held hands running towards the door.

Following slowly she wasn't surprised to see the front door open and her Mom hugging all of the girls. Reaching the door she heard her Mom tell the girls that the boys were in the den that her parents had almost converted to be a room for the kids when they visited she didn't have a chance to say anything to them as they ran off to find their cousins.

Linda had an ulterior motive behind getting the girls out of the way fast because she wanted the opportunity to talk to her daughter before the entire family was there. Watching the girls run off she turned back to Stephanie as she shut the door, "No Paul?"

Hugging her Mom she knew that would be the first question, "He couldn't make it. Is Shane in the lounge?"

She didn't really give her Mom a chance to answer as she released her from the hug and walked past her towards the lounge. Pasting a smile on her face she walked in and rolled her eyes seeing her brother there, "Ugh, you're here."

Laughing Shane immediately stood up and closed the distance between himself and his sister and pulled her into a tight hug, "You know it. So where's the husband?"

Nobody saw Aurora appear in the doorway until she said, "Dad doesn't live with us any more."

Releasing her brother Stephanie quickly spun around to see her oldest daughter, "What's wrong Aurora?"

"K wants a drink and I wondered if I could get him some water from the fridge please?"

Linda smiled at her Granddaughter and nodded her head, "Of course you can, you can take as many bottles of water as you need but just be careful."

Everyone watched Aurora leave and waited for the right time to start talking meanwhile Stephanie removed her phone from her pocket placing it on the coffee table before she took a seat and just waited.

Marissa knew exactly what was going to happen next so to prolong it a little she stood up and walked over to Stephanie bending down to hug her, "Seeing as you forgot me I'll come to you."

It felt nice to just get a hug and for it not to be accompanied by a question, "Sorry Riss, you know I love you."

"And I love you too sis."

Everybody took a seat and she could feel all eyes on her as she raked he fingers through her hair, "So come on then, I know you are all dying to ask something."

They all looked between each other trying to decide who was going to ask the questions but Vince chose to speak up first mentioning his observation, "Where are your wedding rings?"

Shrugging her shoulders there wasn't a whole lot to say, "At home, in the jewellery box where they'll stay for the foreseeable future."

Being a protective older brother Shane was itching to hurt Paul as he could see the pain his sister was going through as it was written all over her face and in her body language, "What happened? Why isn't he living with you?"

Looking down at the floor briefly she took a deep breath before she looked up, "I don't want to say too much as I am trying to protect the girls from it all but it involves the 'c' word."

They all knew what that 'c word' was and Marissa immediately grabbed her husband's hand holding it tightly to prevent him doing or saying something stupid as she knew the hold she had over him with just her touch.

Stroking his wife's hand with his thumb he looked over at her and forced a smile of thanks before he looked back at his sister, "So who was it with?"

Looking down at her hands she shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I haven't been in a place to talk to him about it. I know what I found out, which wasn't a lot, and that's it."

Vince's fists clenched at his sides as he listened to his daughter talk about finding out that her husband had cheated on her, as a man who had cheated on his wife he knew the pain that his family had gone through when he had cheated. If his daughter wouldn't kill him for it and if he was confident the business wouldn't suffer for a brief moment without him he would happily fire him for hurting his daughter and granddaughters this much.

Before anybody else could ask anything of Stephanie Vaughn appeared in the room with her arms crossed and a pout on her face, "Mommy Decky says I cheats at Jenga 'cause I did what you says."

Shifting forward on her seat she reached out to her daughter smiling when she came over to her wrapping her arms around her neck. Kissing her cheek she smiled at her, "Your cousin sounds a lot like his Daddy, Uncle Shane didn't like it when I'd beat him at things either. Let's go and show him how it's done and show him how girls rule."

The little girl smiled brightly, "Yay, girls rule and boys drool."

Picking her daughter up with her as she stood up she was more than happy to get out of the room and away from the conversation.

Waiting until his sister left the room Shane slid forward in his seat and reached for her phone unlocking it with the pass code he had watched her input hundreds of times.

Watching her son play with her daughter's phone was not a pleasant feeling for Linda, "Shane stop it, that isn't your phone and you need to leave it alone."

Glancing up from the phone he knew his Dad would agree with him, "Yeah well as a protective older brother I can't. She may not be ready to hear the details but I sure as hell am more than ready to hear them." Turning his attention back to the phone he went through her messages until he found that there wasn't one from her husband so he opened a new one to enable him to send him one:

 _Meet me at the East Putnam Avenue Starbucks in Greenwich in 20 minutes, I want to talk._

Sending the text he locked the phone and slipped it beside him as he sat back in the chair, if his sister returned before he got a response he did not want her seeing it.

Paul was bored, living out of a hotel was boring because he had one room and it was incredibly restrictive so spending an entire day in it on Sunday was not an option and as such he was currently sat in Starbucks bored out of his mind wishing he was with his girls.

When his phone beeped he really hoped it was Stephanie inviting him over, he knew he had spent all day on Saturday with the girls but there was nothing wrong in hoping that she was thawing towards him and he would get more time with them. Pulling his phone from his pocket he lit up the screen and smiled when he saw that it was from his wife and that she wanted to talk, she'd probably dropped the girls at her parents for a bit which is why she wanted to meet in Greenwich.

Standing up he tossed his empty takeaway cup in the trash before he made his way out of the store pulling up a reply to his wife he quickly composed one on his way back to the car:

 _I'm on my way._

The phone beeped beside him and Shane quickly snatched it looking to make sure his sister wasn't returning before he read the text and then deleted it replacing her phone on the coffee table before he stood up, "I have somewhere that I have to be, I will be back soon."

Linda didn't want to support her son in doing this, she should be stopping him and making him wait until Stephanie is ready to hear the details for herself and then if she wanted to share them with them then that was her choice to make but she knew what Shane was like and she knew how protective he was over her, "Promise me that you won't hurt him."

Leaning down he kissed his wife softly before he turned to his Mom, "I promise you I won't lift a finger, she would hate me if I did. I'll be back when I'm back."

"Bring some ice cream back with you, you need a reason to have been gone."

Nodding his head in understanding he patted his pocket to make sure that he had his wallet before he left the room stopping briefly in the hallway when he heard his sisters laughter filtering through from the den. He wished he could keep her there in that moment where she was having a good time so he could lock the Stephanie he had seen when she arrived out of her life but that wasn't possible, however he could find out what they were dealing with when it came to Paul because knowledge was power and they needed to be powerful when it came to supporting her. Taking a deep breath he headed for the front door as he had an appointment to keep.


	9. Chapter 9

I'm sorry for the lack of regular updates recently but real life has needed my full attention, I won't bore you with the details though. I am going to try to get back to regularly updating though and this is the first step so enjoy :)

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Shane ordered himself a drink and took it over towards the back of the store taking a seat at a table making sure that he had a good view of the front door and just waited.

Stephanie smiled brightly as her nephew threw a fit, "That's not fair, you're cheating."

"It's not cheating Declan, it's just playing the game using your brain."

Staring at his Aunt he didn't believe her, there had to be more to it than that, "How?"

Patting the space beside her she stacked the blocks back up again ready for the Jenga master-class.

All of Stephanie's troubles were forgotten as she sat there surrounded by her daughters and nephews as they watched on in awe as she explained the simple thinking that was involved in winning a game of Jenga and soon her presence wasn't needed as the kids decided on a boys versus girls tournament to see who was better. Standing up she brushed down her jeans, "Play nice and no fighting." She could only shake her head as none of them were listening as they were concentrating too hard.

Walking back into the lounge the first thing she noticed was the fact that her brother wasn't there any more, "Where did Shane go? Don't tell me he is working."

Nobody wanted to be the person to answer that question as it involved stretching the truth but inevitably someone had to say something so Linda chose to speak up, "He has gone to pick up something for dessert, apparently he felt like a family meal without dessert was some crime against humanity."

Flopping into a chair Stephanie had to admit that sounded exactly like her brother, "Sounds about right."

Wanting to keep her daughter's mind off her brother's absence she stood up, "Do you want to help me with lunch Stephanie?"

Marissa moved forward in her chair, "I'll help too and Vince can go and keep an eye on the kids."

That plan was agreeable to all of them so they stood up and the girls made their way to the kitchen to start on lunch.

Paul was nervous as he parked the car and made his way to the store, this needed to go well and she needed to forgive him and he needed to go home because he was going crazy. Slowly pushing open the door he stepped inside nervously looking around for Stephanie but when his eyes settled on Shane his stomach dropped and he knew right then and there his world had completely fallen apart.

Slowly walking over to the table he gripped the back of the chair, "Shane? To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Shane was watching the door intently and saw Paul enter and look around and the moment he saw him his eyes widened and he could tell that he knew that the game was up. Sitting back in his chair he crossed his arms, "Don't try and bullshit me Paul. Go and get yourself a drink and then sit your ass down as we have things to discuss."

It wasn't the best place to argue with Shane so he just went to get himself a drink so he had a moment to compose himself before he rejoined him at the table and took a seat, "I guess you know?"

Rolling his eyes Shane shook his head, "Of course I know, you didn't think she would be able to keep it from us did you?"

Shaking his head he knew she wouldn't and he couldn't expect her to either, "Why did you text from Steph's phone and not your own?"

"Because I didn't think that you would come if I said it was me. I figured you would know that I knew and blow it off. So how much have you told Stephanie?"

Playing with the straw in his drink he couldn't bear to even look at him, "Nothing, she kind of threw me out without asking any questions and she hasn't wanted to talk to me since. I guess I don't need to turn up for the plane to Raw tomorrow?"

Snorting he shook his head, "You wish. Dad knows that if he were to fire you Steph would kill him and the business would suffer because there is nobody in an immediate position to take over from you and he doesn't want to deal with the drama."

"Oh." Paul wasn't sure if he was relieved that he still had a job or was actually upset that he had a job because he knew Vince would make his life utterly miserable because of what he had done to Stephanie.

Taking a sip of his coffee Shane then sat forward a little, "So who was she?"

"Nobody special. I met her at the Concussion Legacy Foundation Impact Awards and we just got talking."

Shane laughed dryly, "You did a little more than talking Paul, my sister is not going to throw you out and be this distraught because you spoke to another woman."

Sighing he rubbed his face wearily, "We started off by just talking and then I don't know what happened, one thing just led to another and we ended up sleeping together."

That was a start, "Where does she live?"

"Boston."

Taking a sip of his coffee he was confused, "How did you do it if she lives in Boston?"

He didn't want to give him all of the details, it felt wrong giving him them when his own wife didn't have them, "Don't take this the wrong way but I would rather give Stephanie all of the details first before I give them to you or anybody else."

"If you don't to give them all to me then give me something."

Focussing on his drink Paul stared down at the ice cubes as he swirled the straw around, "Okay fine. The details I am happy to share are that it's been going on for like three months, she truly, deeply and honestly doesn't mean anything to me and I regret it and I regret hurting Stephanie."

He seemed genuine but despite how genuine he seemed he had hurt his sister in the worst way possible and he definitely wasn't going to be on his side and try to convince her to take him back or anything, "If she doesn't mean anything why did you do it?"

Staring at the table he couldn't be honest about this, could he?

"Be honest with me please Paul, I need to know why you did this to her? What did she do that was so wrong that she pushed you into the arms of another woman?"

Slowly looking up from the table it felt like Shane had plunged a knife into his heart and was twisting it, "It was nothing Stephanie did, it was what I did, the pressure I put on myself. The other woman helped me escape from it all, I didn't have to be a perfect executive, perfect husband or perfect Father, I was just Paul with her."

He couldn't help but be amazed by his reasoning, "So you cheated to escape? You didn't talk to your wife and try to figure out a way to relieve the stress you were feeling, you thought the smart thing to do would be to cheat and just ruin your entire family and marriage so you didn't have to be a perfect husband any more."

Shrugging his shoulders when it was repeated back to him it did sound ridiculous, "Okay so I wasn't really thinking all that clearly when I started this."

"You weren't thinking to start with I can understand but three months of not thinking I don't believe."

Drinking some of his coffee he didn't know what else he could say to him, "I don't know what you want me to say Shane, I don't know why I did it and I regret every second of it and would give up everything just to have my wife and family back. Please tell me that you will help me get her back."

Shaking his head there was no chance he was going to risk him destroying his sister again, "Absolutely not, I would say it a hell of a lot stronger than that if we weren't in public."

"Please Shane, she won't even talk to me, I need somebody to help me get through to her about how sorry I am."

Leaning forward in his chair Shane leant his elbows on the table, "You are forgetting one major thing Paul. When Stephanie was growing up she watched my Dad cheat on my Mom, she saw how it hurt my Mom and she knows how she felt as a child, she is **not** going to want to put her own children through that."

The more he spoke to Shane the less he believed that he had any hope of getting Stephanie back but he wouldn't give up, he couldn't give up. Looking briefly at the counter as there was some shouting about a wrong order before he turned back to Shane, "I can't give up on her though Shane, I have never felt like I feel for her for anybody else and I'm not giving up on it."

He did admire his determination and how he hadn't changed any part of what they had said the entire time they had been talking but it didn't change the facts, "That's nice for you but you can't force Stephanie to do anything she doesn't want to do and right now I'm pretty sure that if she never saw you again in her entire lifetime it would be too soon for her. She's a McMahon and she's stubborn so if you are really serious about this then I must warn you that it won't be a quick or an easy process. I'm going to give you advice and you can do with it what you want but the fact that she hasn't filed for divorce yet is a good sign but that is the only good sign you have however I would suggest that you found yourself a proper home to live in because I assume you are living out of a hotel now and if you continue to do that then you look like you're confident that she'll forgive you and take you back."

That was not the advice he wanted, "So you think I should buy somewhere else?"

"I never said the word 'buy', I said you should find somewhere else to live. There are such things as rental homes, you can temporarily find a fully furnished one of those to live in whilst your home life is still so unstable and you can make a decision as the weeks and months pass."

" **Months**?! I can't do months Shane, it's only been ten days and it feels like I am slowly dying inside."

Finishing off his coffee Shane shook his head, "Yes months. I know my sister and I know that if she is going to take you back it will be a long process because she will need to be certain that you will never do it again. Your word is no longer enough Paul, you screwed yourself over with that when you cheated." Pushing his chair back a little Shane stood up, "Goodbye Paul."

As the other man went to walk past him Paul grabbed his arm because he was desperate, "Shane you have to help me out, I don't know what to do to make her forgive me."

Stopping he looked at him briefly, "You have to be joking if you think that I will help you get her back. If you can prove to her that you are remorseful and you'll never do it again and she takes you back then that is on her but I am not going to sway her either way and risk you hurting her. Good luck Paul, you're going to need it."

Freeing his arm he walked out of the store to go to get some ice cream for dessert.

Paul sat there for a while finishing off the remainder of his drink going over what Shane had said, maybe he was right, maybe he should rent somewhere nearby and then the girls could stay over but would that mean he was giving up on her? God his life was a mess.

Looking at how far they had come with lunch and the fact that Shane wasn't home yet Stephanie was concerned, "We are going to have finished cooking all of this and will be eating by the time Shane is home at this rate, should somebody call him and make sure he is okay?"

Both Linda and Marissa were quick to jump in, "No!"

Jumping a little at the forceful way they had both spoken she eyed them curiously wondering if there was something they hadn't told her, "O . . . kay? Are you two keeping something from me? Is Shane not really at the store?" All sorts of things were beginning to go through her mind and she was not liking any of them as she was having images of her brother and estranged husband fighting.

The other two women were sending panicked looks back and forth between them not knowing what to say to her when suddenly the front door slammed and they breathed a collective sigh of relief knowing that Shane was back.

Walking into the kitchen Shane kissed his wife's cheek, "Honey I'm home."

Not thinking about Stephanie Marissa turned around she hugged her husband to whisper in his ear, "Perfect timing."

Stephanie turned away from looking at her brother and his wife, it hurt to see a happily married couple right now.

Pulling away from his wife Shane turned and put the ice cream in the freezer before he turned back to his sister and hugged her too, "So I reckon you missed me too."

Laughing she hugged him back, "Maybe a little but I think you you just want me to miss you to boost your ego. So what took you so long? Did you get lost?"

Marissa forced a laugh, "You don't go shopping with him every week, that was normal as he has the attention span of a fly so it takes a while."

Rolling his eyes Shane shook his head, "Can we not talk about that and being mean to me and focus on the fact that I got mint choc chip ice cream and I really want to eat it right now."

Linda shook her head, "No ice cream before lunch. Go and check up on your Father and the kids please, just makes sure that nothing is being broken please."

Walking over to his Mom Shane kissed her cheek, "Anything for you." Whilst he was close to her face he whispered in her ear, "We all need to talk, minus Steph." Pulling away from his Mom he went off in search of the kids and his Father.

Linda pushed all thoughts of exactly what Shane had to say out of her mind and focussed on lunch and enjoying spending time with her family.

Stephanie looked at her her Mom and sister-in-law as they both crowded around the stove stirring the pots and checking on the meat in the oven, being with family was exactly what she needed right now and she could only hope that it would help heal her heart.


	10. Chapter 10

Stephanie enjoyed the rest of the day with her family as after them initially asking a lot of questions about Paul and looking at her really sympathetically they had relaxed and just focussed on all of the kids so she was an after thought which allowed her to relax.

Looking at her watch she was surprised to see the time, "Okay it's getting late so we really should be heading home as the girls have school tomorrow. Girls come on and get ready to leave please." There were pouts and whines from all six of the children but when she gave the girls the look that showed that she meant business they relented and got their shoes on ready to leave.

Soon they were all at the front door hugging and saying goodbye, "It was really good to see you Shane, you shouldn't leave it so long before you come out to visit."

"Pfft, you can always come and visit me, I work as hard as you do."

Stepping between them Marissa pushed her husband back by the chest, "We could make more of an effort to come out and see everyone so shush."

Gently pushing his wife aside Shane wrapped his arm around his sister's shoulders, "I do need to come by more but you know I'm always at the end of the phone and if you need me I will be in a heartbeat for you, unless I'm in China and that will take a little longer than one heartbeat for me to be here."

Elbowing him in the ribs she shook her head, "You're a dork."

Kissing the side of her head he smiled and pulled away, "Well duh, you have known me all of your life so you should know this already."

Pushing her brother away from her she moved to hug her sister-in-law before she hugged her nephews and then her parents, "Thank you so much for lunch and I will talk to you soon." Ushering the girls out of the house she was exhausted and couldn't wait to go home and get the girls into bed and then collapse on the couch.

As soon as Stephanie had pulled out of the drive in her car the door was shut and Shane sent the boys back off to play, "We need to leave really soon so let's go into the lounge and I will explain this as fast as possible."

Everybody made their way into the lounge and took a seat eager to hear what Shane had found out.

Sitting down Linda was first to speak, "I want to make my disapproval of your methods noted. If things kick off and Stephanie finds out what you did and how you did it then I want you to tell her that I disapproved and told you not to do it and you did it anyway."

Nodding his head he was more than willing to take full responsibility, "Absolutely, I will happily take all of the blame for this." Taking a deep breath he had to try and remember what little details he had given him, "He admitted to cheating, he said she wasn't special and he met her at the Concussion Legacy thing, he said it started off with just talking and then it progressed to sex." Taking a moment to block the anger out so he didn't miss anything he had felt the desire to punch Paul rise so knew he needed the moment. After he had composed himself again he continued, "He said it had been going on for three months and that she meant nothing to him. When I asked him what Stephanie had done that was so wrong that pushed him into the arms of another woman he said that it was nothing and that it was to do with the pressure he was putting on himself to be perfect as when he was with the other woman he didn't have to be perfect anything, he was just Paul. I'm not exactly sure what part of my conversation with him angered me more, finding out the details that he would give me or him basically asking me to help him get Stephanie back. He is lucky I didn't have him abducted and thrown in the sea somewhere with heavy metal blocks tied to his arms, legs and neck."

Vince clenched and unclenched his fists as he listened to his son talk, "Are we sure Steph would kill me if I fired him? I don't think I can face him tomorrow and not punch his lights out."

Turning to her husband Linda shook her head, "This is exactly the reaction he wants, he wants you to punch and/or fire him, it would make him feel better if he got a reaction. Right now he's not receiving a reaction at all and that is probably making him feel worse about it all."

"So you are saying that I should just act normal with him and that will make him feel worse?"

She was surprised at how quickly her husband had come around to her way of thinking, "Exactly that. I'm not saying treat him like your son-in-law normal, just every other aspect of normal."

"A son-in-law that gets put in a cage match with Lesnar out of nowhere?"

Smacking her husband's arm she shook her head, "No, no and no again." Turning back to her son she knew he had to leave to get his family home, "So do you think he is really sorry and do you think he really does want her back?"

"I have done nothing but think about this all day long and I have to say that I kind of believe that he is sorry, whether he is only sorry because Steph found out though I wouldn't like to say. I am not going to comment on whether he really wants her back, I think only time will tell with that one, if he really wants her back he will put up with the shit she will throw at him."

Looking at her watch Marissa stood up, "We really need to go as we need to get the boys home and to bed as they have school tomorrow."

Whilst Shane was getting ready to leave his parents and head home Stephanie was just arriving to her own home with the girls, "First thing I want you to do when you get inside is take your shoes off and head upstairs ready for your baths please."

The whines that came from the back of the car told her exactly how badly her evening was going to go, "No arguments, you all have school tomorrow and I will not have you being tired just because you don't want to go to bed." She winced as the car doors slammed as they all climbed out of the car but at least they were moving.

The shoes and coats were in a pile by the stairs and normally she would tell them to pick them up and put them away but she was tired as she couldn't remember the last good nights sleep she had actually had so it was easier to just put them away herself after.

Ushering the girls upstairs she allowed Aurora to watch some television in the master bedroom whilst she bathed her sisters and then once they were in their pyjamas the girls swapped places so Murphy and Vaughn watched television whilst she bathed Aurora.

Once all of the girls were in their pyjamas she turned the television off, "Alright girls, Aurora and Murphy you may read your books for a little bit until I come in and tell you that you need to go to sleep and Vaughn I want you to go and jump into bed and I will be in in a minute."

The youngest of her daughter's promptly put her hands on her hips, "I want Daddy."

"Well Daddy isn't here so I will have to do. Now get into bed before you start tomorrow in time out."

Jumping off the bed she stormed out of the room, "I WANT DADDY!"

Squeezing her eyes tightly shut she was going to ignore it and hope that she was just kicking off but as she walked into the bedroom she saw her sat up in bed with her arms crossed looking incredibly determined, "Now please lay down and go to sleep."

"I. Want. Daddy."

She was already exhausted and stressed so her reaction to that was not how she would normally react. Pulling her phone from her pocket she unlocked it and scrolled through until she reached her husband's number and called it before she tossed the phone onto the bed, "There, if he is so much more important to you than I am then have your Father."

Storming out of the room she swung the door shut behind her not even caring when it slammed. All she wanted was to take a minute to herself but as she exited the room she saw Murphy stood there, "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I want Daddy too. If Vaughn gets him then I should get him too."

Throwing her hands up in the air in surrender she shook her head, "Fine, if you want him too then you know where your sister's room is, you can join her in bed and I don't give a fuck if either of you are tired tomorrow." Normally she didn't swear around her daughter's let alone at them but there was no denying she wasn't herself right now.

Stephanie hadn't noticed if she was around or not but she guessed that Aurora was stood in the hall and would follow her sister into Vaughn's room so she hurried down the stairs angrily wiping at the few tears that fell down her cheeks.

Paul was trying to get his stuff together ready for Raw but in the back of his mind constantly were images of Vince's face and he looked like he was about to blow his top. Throwing his bag onto the floor he sat down heavily on the bed, ever since he had met with Shane he had just wanted to speak to Stephanie and see if he had said anything to her about their meeting and he also wanted to speak to his daughter's but he didn't want to call as he knew that they were at Vince's and he didn't want to interrupt or make things awkward.

Looking at his watch he needed to text her soon as the girls would be in bed and he needed to apologise for not calling and find some excuse for forgetting that she would buy and wouldn't get him deeper in her bad books. He was about to abandon the packing in favour of a shower when his cell phone began to ring so reaching across to the bedside table he picked it up surprised to see that Stephanie was calling him, "Hello?"

Vaughn excitedly picked up the phone when she heard her Dad's voice just as her older sister entered the room, "Daddy!"

Laughing softly he couldn't help but smile as he heard the obvious excitement of his youngest daughter quickly followed by an excited shout from one of the other girls but he couldn't figure out which as they were so far away, "Good evening baby girls." Looking at the clock again to double check the time he was confused, "What are you still doing up? Shouldn't you be in bed and asleep by now ready for school tomorrow?"

Murphy clambered onto her sister's bed almost squashing her and not caring about her groans of protest, "We missed you Daddy, we wanted to talk to you."

Sighing softly he missed them too, "I miss you girls too but I only saw you yesterday, it wasn't that long ago. You really shouldn't play up for your Mom to try and get your way, you should do as she says as she only wants what is best for you."

"You's best for us Daddy."

Running his hand over his head he sighed heavily feeling bad for his wife, she was obviously trying her hardest and after a day of dealing with her family and explaining the mess he had created she had come home and the girls weren't doing as she asked. Turning his attention back to his phone if he could do anything from afar he was going to make sure that the girls went to sleep as he wanted them to be wide awake for school as much as she did, "I know you girls love your Mom too and you should be nicer to her. Why don't both of you lay down on the bed and close your eyes ready to go to sleep and then I will read you a bedtime story but you've got to promise to apologise to your Mom the very next time you see her."

"We will, we will."

Murphy cuddled up to Vaughn as they both lay their heads on the pillow, "We listening Daddy."

Trying to block all concern for his wife from his mind he desperately tried to think of a one of the many stories he had read to them over the years so he had somewhere to start and only needed to make up a middle and end to a story.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she began to pick up the shoes and coats to keep her mind occupied so she didn't cry but it wasn't working because as she made her way to the closet her vision was getting blurrier from the unshed tears that were forming in them. Quickly dumping the shoes and hanging the coats up she made her way through to the den and shut the door so that she could cry in private. Collapsing on the couch she grabbed a cushion and held it to her chest as she gave in to the sobs that were threatening to break out.

She didn't know how long she had been on the couch for, all she did know was that her eyes were hurting and she was all cried out for now. Sitting back up she put the cushion back in place on the couch before she got up and reluctantly made her way back upstairs to check on the girls.

Paul didn't even know what the end of his story was going to be but there had been no noise from the girls from a few minutes, "Murphy, Vaughn, are you awake?" When he received nothing but silence in response he was satisfied that they were fast asleep, "Goodnight my beautiful baby girls, sleep well." Ending the call he put his phone down beside him, he almost felt like he should send Stephanie a text but he wasn't sure what he would even say to her or how she would take it so he abandoned that idea and turned his attention back to the packing that he needed to get done.

Her hand hovered over the doorknob to Vaughn's room, she needed to go in and check on the girls but she really didn't want to have to hear Paul's voice tonight. Taking a deep breath she slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open surprised to see that there were only two girls and that they were both cuddled up together and fast asleep. Walking over to the bed she picked up her phone lighting up the screen to see that the call had obviously been ended so sliding the phone into her pocket she bent down and kissed them both on the top of the head before she went to check on Aurora.

Entering Aurora's room she wasn't surprised to see her fast asleep with a book on her chest, she had always loved reading and now she could do it by herself sometimes you were lucky to get her head out of a book. Placing the book on the bedside table making sure to keep the place she was at she pulled her daughter's cover up a little bit higher before she kissed her on the top of the head and quietly left the room.

Standing in the hallway she didn't know what to do with herself, there were so many options but she was just feeling at a loss. Making her way to her bedroom she hoped to find inspiration for what to do really soon as she was going to go crazy if she was left alone with her own thoughts tonight.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Stephanie was reluctant about waking the girls up because she really didn't want to deal with them being tired and cranky because they were up late last night.

Pushing open Vaughn's bedroom door she couldn't help but smile at the way the girls were still cuddled together, even asleep their bond could not be broken and as a Mother it made her happy to see her children so close together. Walking over to the bed she gently shook their shoulders, "Come on girls, you need to get up as you need to get ready for school."

There were a few mumbles and groans but soon their eyes were open so she left the room to go and wake Aurora. Entering her room she sat on the edge of her bed and shook her shoulder gently, "Come on Rory, wake up." She watched as her eldest daughter stretched and then patted her bed looking for her book, "I put your book on the side last night, you shouldn't have lost your place."

A sleepy smile crossed the little girl's lips as she pushed herself into a seated position, "Thank you. I was reading whilst I waited for you and I don't know what happened."

Leaning forward she pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "It's okay, I came in to check on you and you were fast asleep with the book resting against you. No reading now though, just get yourself up whilst I check on your sisters please." Heading out of the bedroom she hoped the morning went smoothly.

The last time that she had left the girls they were all getting dressed which meant any second now it would sound like a herd of elephants was coming down the stairs before they would all rush into the kitchen looking for their breakfast.

Setting out three bowls on the table complete with spoons she turned around as the stampede began and barely made it to the counter before they came running into the kitchen, "What have I told you about running in the kitchen? Don't do it please as you don't know what you will find as there could be hot pans or sharp knives being carried around. Please sit down whilst I get the cereals."

Picking up two boxes of cereals she turned and placed them on the table, "Help yourselves but no fighting." Making her way over to the fridge she had forgotten to get the milk out but as walked the short distance to the fridge she could hear whispered arguments behind her which was not a good start to the day. Retrieving the milk from the fridge she turned to go back to the table as the arguing continued, "Can you not argue please? It is only a cereal, it is not a life or death decision."

Gentle nudges turned into pushing and almost shoving until Vaughn fell off her chair and onto the floor with her bottom lip quivering, "I hate you."

Sighing she had turned her head briefly as she had thought she had heard her phone ringing and she turned back to see her youngest on the floor with her bottom lip quivering, "Seriously?! What the hell has gotten into you lot lately?" Placing the milk on the table she bent down brushing Vaughn's hair back, "You'll be okay won't you Princess?"

Throwing her arms around her Mom's neck she held her tightly, "Please don't hate us."

Hugging her daughter briefly she was confused so she slowly pulled her back by the shoulders, "Hate you? Why would I hate you?"

"I was bad and so was Murphy and we 'manded Daddy and you can't hate us, we just loves him but we loves you too, lots. Please don't hate us."

Pulling her daughter close again she held her tightly and closed her eyes trying so hard not to cry.

When their Mom hadn't forgiven them already Murphy abandoned pouring her cereals and ran the short distance around the table throwing her arms around her Mom, "Please don't hate me, I loves you."

That was all it took to break the barrier that was holding back her tears and soon they were like a waterfall falling down her face as she slid her arm around her middle daughter too.

Watching the scene unfolding in front of her Aurora slipped off her chair and wrapped her arms around her Mom too, "I love you Mommy, don't cry."

Taking a deep slow breath she tried to contain her emotions, "I'm not mad at any of you and I most certainly don't hate any of you."

Pulling back from the hug Murphy and Vaughn looked at her hopefully, "Really?!"

Wiping at the tears on her face she then slipped an arm around her eldest's waist and pulled her closer kissing her cheek, "I love you too baby girl." Releasing Aurora so she could go back to her breakfast she nodded her head, "Really. I was upset and frustrated that you wouldn't listen to me last night because I wasn't trying to keep you from your Dad, it was just late and you needed to go to bed so to make up for it I was going to see if he could spare five minutes for you this morning but you don't need that now. I will call him for you though Aurora if you want."

Keeping her head low Aurora was suddenly finding her cereals really interesting.

Looking down Murphy and Vaughn felt like they were being told off, "Sorry Mommy."

"It's okay, just don't do it again please. Sit back down and eat breakfast please as you need to go to school and I need to do some work."

The rest of breakfast had seemed to pass uneventfully and she managed to get the girls to school and herself to the offices with no problems.

She had an hour until the conference call meeting to discuss the details of Raw so she had enough time to get some of her own work done before it began. Setting herself an alarm to make sure that she was finished in plenty of time before it began so she was prepared she immersed herself in her work blocking out almost everything around her but her concentration was broken when her phone beeped a couple of times in quick succession so she finished the sentence that she was typing and sat back to check her phone.

Picking up her phone she saw that it was a few emails so she contemplated ignoring them until later but her curiosity won out and she unlocked her phone to see exactly what they were about but as she opened her email client she almost wished she hadn't as it was a reminder about the Eisenhower Fellowship that she was doing. Clicking to open the first email she really did wish that she hadn't checked her emails as it was informing her of her trip to Brazil in ten days, she had completely forgotten about the trip after all of the personal upheaval and now she wasn't sure how was she meant to go to Brazil at this moment in time. Ignoring the rest of the emails she exited out of the email client and turned her attention back to her work.

She had tried to contribute in the meeting but neither her heart nor her mind were really in it so when her cell phone began to ring soon after the end of it and she saw her Father's name she knew she was about to get ripped in to, "I'm sorry."

Vince didn't care much that his daughter hadn't been herself in the meeting from a boss stand point but from a Father stand point he was concerned so he took the first opportunity he had to call her and luckily that was straight after the meeting. Making sure that his office door was locked he sat down at his desk and called her confused by her greeting, "You are? What are you sorry for?"

Sitting back she was now confused, "I'm sorry that I wasn't myself in the meeting, my mind was elsewhere because I received an email about the next stage of the Eisenhower Fellowship and my trip to Brazil is ten days away. How am I meant to leave the girls and go to Brazil?"

It all made sense as to why she was off now and he felt bad for her, "You know your Mom and I would offer to watch them but there is no way we could for that time period however they do have a Father, isn't that what he is there for?"

Talking to Paul about it had crossed her mind but she didn't know how she could trust him any more, "I don't know."

"Just think about it Steph, he is their Father and you shouldn't miss out on this amazing opportunity just because he couldn't keep his dick in his pants."

Sighing heavily he had a point, she would hate to have to pull out and to miss this but she didn't trust her husband any more and she couldn't risk her daughters being around his other woman, "I can't trust him though. I don't want another woman in **our** house to confuse the girls, they are struggling enough as it is without me willingly putting them through that."

The pain he could hear in his daughter's voice and hearing the struggle his Granddaughter's were going through made it so hard for him not to just punch Paul out but he had to be level headed and he had to be there for his daughter right now when she needed him the most. Taking a deep breath he clenched and unclenched his fists a couple of times, "Set ground rules then, tell him what he can and cannot do in the house. If he breaks your rules I will break his neck."

Her first reaction was that he was crazy, she couldn't set out rules for her husband to live by in his own house but on the other hand if she did set him rules then it might put her mind at ease, "I'll think about it Dad, thank you."

"You're welcome, that is what I am here for. Am I still not allowed to punch him out though?"

Laughing she shook her head, "You are still not allowed to punch him out, as much as he deserves it and I would take great pleasure in doing it myself it is not a good example for the girls."

Grumbling he knew that she would say that so it was expected but the old man didn't have to like her decision, he just had to accept it, "Whatever you want. I should go back to work but if you need me Steph you know where I am."

"I do, thank you. I love you Dad."

"I love you too Stephanie."

Hanging up the phone Vince got on with his work whilst Stephanie took a moment to sit back in her seat, did her Dad make a valid point about writing rules? Would Paul actually stick to them? Would he not want to watch the girls at all if she had rules for him to follow? The whole thing was starting to make her head hurt so she got up from her desk to go and get a drink to go along with the lunch she had brought in for herself.

Returning to her desk with her food and drink she planned to just relax but her Dad's words were still in her head so she decided to write out the rules she could think of to see if they were reasonable enough:

 _1: Under no circumstances are **any** women that you are or were in a relationship with to come over to the house and/or stay the night._

 _2: No conversations involving any women that you are or were in a relationship with are to be held around the girls or any where the girls may hear them whether they are held on the phone/Skype/FaceTime or in person._

 _3: You are not allowed to meet up with any women you are or were having a relationship with whilst the girls are actually with you._

Satisfied with the rules for now she saved them so she could review them later and then turned her attention back to her lunch to just get a few minutes peace and quiet if she could get her mind to just shut off for a little bit.

Her mind shut off long enough for her to eat some lunch in silence before she had to go back to work and focus on both aspects of her job. Normally at times like this when real life overwhelmed her she would lose herself in the television side of the business as she just played a character and it wasn't real but when the television side of the business was so closely tied to the reason she was so overwhelmed she felt like she had nowhere to go to escape. Part of her was really hoping that she could go to Brazil as she felt like this would do wonders for her, especially now, the space and change of scenery might allow her to clear her mind and come back having made a final decision on exactly what she was going to do about her marriage.


	12. Chapter 12

She spent the entire day working so when she arrived home just in time for the girl's dinner she was more than happy to toss her bag on the floor, shrug her jacket off and hang it over the railing at the bottom of the stairs and then send the Nanny home. As soon as the Nanny was saying goodnight to the girls Stephanie prepared herself a protein shake. Once she had her shake she sat down at the table and listened to them as they spoke about their days, their school work and their friends.

When three sets of eyes turned to look at her she was worried, "Uh oh, what did I do?"

"You si . . . no speak."

Aurora rolled her eyes at her younger sister as she was so stupid, "Silent, she's silent."

Stephanie frowned at her eldest daughter not happy that she was being rude to her sister, "Be a little nicer please Rory. Helping her is great, there was no need to roll your eyes though."

She knew that she was one small step away from a time out now so she had to do everything she was told. If she wanted to be back on her Mom's good side she needed to apologise, she didn't want to but she did complete with a pout on her face, "Sorry Vaughny."

Once the apology had been given Stephanie smiled at her eldest who was so much like her it was scary. Turning her attention back to Vaughn she shrugged her shoulders. She tried to play off the fact that her mind had wandered briefly so she hadn't been listening to them all of the time, "I was just enjoying listening to the three of you talking about your day."

If she wanted to avoid them picking up on the fact that she wasn't listening she had to distract them. Slowly exhaling she focussed on all three of the girls and attempted to draw them back to a conversation not about her, "So where were you before the subject got changed? I forgot."

Murphy was completely oblivious to what her Mom was attempting to do so fell into it and was the first to speak up, "We were talking about where Daddy would take us on Saturday."

The eldest of all three girls crossed her arms quick to voice her opinion on the matter, "And I said that I didn't want to go anywhere, I'd rather be here with you Mommy."

It was hard for Stephanie to keep ignoring the problem that was staring her right in the face and it wasn't fair on Aurora or Paul for her to just keep ignoring it. With all of their plates now being cleared she stood up from the table to do something about it, "I am going to put all of these dishes away. If you girls want to go and play a bit before bed then go right ahead but Aurora can you hold on a minute please?"

Murphy and Vaughn jumped down from the table and ran off to play whilst Stephanie gathered their plates together and then put them on the side ready to put in the dishwasher after. Her stomach churned as she turned back to the table, she was so afraid of this conversation, she only wanted for her daughter to be happy and to have a good relationship with her Father. She went and took a seat at the table so that she could look directly at her daughter and so that hopefully she would open up to her if she didn't talk down to her, "So why don't you want to go out with your Dad on Saturday? You don't even know what you'll be doing yet."

The little girl didn't need to know what they were doing to know that she didn't want to go. Aurora shrugged her shoulders and sat back in her seat crossing her arms disinterested in the conversation, "I'd rather be with you."

As much as she wasn't very happy with Paul as a husband at present she had to ignore that as right now she had to fight on his behalf for the sake of their daughter. She didn't want her to grow up hating her Dad when he should be the one consistent man in her life that she should be able to rely on and know that he loves her unconditionally, "I don't know why you would rather be with me, I'll probably only be doing laundry and tidying up after the three of you."

"At least you love me and want to be with me though."

Well if she wasn't confused before she most certainly was now. Why did she think that Paul didn't love her? There were so many questions and only one way to get answers so she reached for Aurora's hands taking them in hers, "What do you mean? Why would you think that he doesn't love you or want to be with you?"

The feeling of her Mom holding her hands brought the little girl comfort but she still stared at the table not willing or able to look in her eyes as she spoke, "First he stopped coming home with you and now he's gone forever. It's 'cause I don't look like Murphy and Vaughn, I driven him away 'cause he doesn't love me like them and he can't be here."

Stephanie felt her heart breaking as she listened to her daughter say that it was he fault that her Dad wasn't around, nothing hurt more than hearing he daughter say that Paul didn't love her. She felt like she had failed as a Mother for not better protecting her from it all. Aurora was too far from her sat in her chair so she pulled her off it and closer to her, once she was close enough she picked her up and sat her on her lap wrapping her arms around her tightly, "Your Dad not living here right now has nothing to do with you or your sisters, it is an adult issue that as adults and parents he and I need to work through together." She didn't want to give her hope by saying that he might return home when she didn't know the truth about what he had done and she didn't know if she could get past it.

The little girl leaned back against her Mom and sighed, "But I don't look like the other two, he always hugs them harder and longer and focusses on them, he hates me 'cause I don't look like him."

It was taking everything in her not to cry as she squeezed her tightly and listened to her daughter talk about her Dad hating her. Paul was far from a model husband these days but she knew that he loved all of the girls equally. As much as she didn't want to talk to him ever again she was going to have to have an urgent talk with him about this for Aurora's sake, "Your Dad does love you Aurora, I promise you that he loves you with every single part of him. Being his first little Princess you are the most special to him because of that. I don't think it is possible for him to not love you or your sisters."

"What about you?"

Taken back by the question she didn't know what she meant, well technically she did think she knew what she meant but she didn't want to answer whether he loved her or not. There was a slim chance that she was wrong and she was going to cling to that, "What about me? I love you all very much and being my first baby girl you are incredibly special to me as you taught me so much about love and about myself."

That wasn't what she wanted to know so wriggling a little on her Mom's lap she turned to face her, "Does Daddy love you?"

Why do kids always ask the worst questions? It felt like an impossible task to work out a suitable answer whilst not thinking about what happened and keeping her emotions in check. Impossible was one way to describe how she was currently feeling about her situation but no matter how hard she thought about it it wasn't going to magic the truth out of him to help her answer it. The way that her daughter was staring at her with so much hope in her eyes caused a tightening in her chest, taking a few deep breaths she began to wonder what to tell her nine year old? When an answer didn't come she decided to be evasive and hope she bought it, "It's complicated."

"He has to love you Mommy. I look like you and you say he loves me so he has to love you too."

The logic was there, it was just a shame that it couldn't be applied in real life because if it could she would be feeling a whole lot better than she was, "Why don't you go and play with your sisters for a bit whilst I tidy up properly and then we can watch some television before your baths."

Now that she knew that she wasn't in any trouble and her Mom had dismissed her the little girl was a lot happier as she slid from her Mom's lap. Running off she went to find out what her sisters were playing so that she could join in.

Once Aurora had left the room Stephanie got up and went in search of her phone having not bothered with it when she returned home. She finally found it in her jacket pocket so removing it she tried to push her feelings aside and just focus on needing to do this for Aurora.

Standing just outside the living room door she smiled softly as she watched the girls playing with the toy wrestling ring and figures that they had, she dreaded to think what match they had come up with now as they all had very vivid imaginations. She couldn't continue to watch them otherwise she would abandon the kitchen and her phone in favour of playing with them so she made her way back towards the kitchen. Once she was alone in the kitchen she turned her attention to her phone and reluctantly opened a text to her husband:

 _I know you're busy with Raw right now but I need to talk to you about something asap. It's not life threatening, just important._

Her finger hovered over the 'Send' button for a second before she plucked up the courage and actually sent the text. She placed her phone on the counter beside her and began to gather the remaining dishes and condiment dispensers off the table to put them all away.

Paul was in a conversation he really didn't have the time or patience for but he couldn't be rude and tell them to shut up as he had better things to do. When his phone vibrated in his hand he eagerly looked at the screen and was relieved to see his wife's name as she gave him the perfect reason to walk away, "Sorry, I've got to handle this. We'll pick this up at another time."

He had no intention of picking up the conversation another time but as he walk away his thoughts weren't on that, they were on the message from his wife. He dodged around a couple of people as he walked along the corridor and unlocked his phone desperate to see what she wanted but when he read her text he was concerned, very concerned actually as it sounded serious.

There were so many thoughts and possibilities going around in Paul's head that he didn't know how he would concentrate on the show as he wanted his answers now. He knew that there was no other option so would have to wait but he wanted to acknowledge that he had seen it. Glancing at his watch he realised that the girls would be going to bed soon so he had to make time to talk to them as hopefully that was one thing that he could do right in Stephanie's eyes:

 _I'll ring to talk to the girls before their bedtime in about 5-10 minutes and maybe we could talk either if/when I am free during Raw or when I get to the hotel after? You choose._

He had only attempted to get two minutes to himself and he couldn't even manage that as his name was being called so he quickly sent the text to see what they wanted. As soon as he had sorted that out he needed to do make sure that he had done everything time sensitive that he had to do so that he could make the necessary time for his daughters.

Stephanie had been busy getting the girls ready for their baths when he had returned her text and it had almost annoyed her as now she had to put their baths off and he was putting it back on her about when they spoke. She threw the towels onto the bed and tried not to appear too annoyed with the girls and act like she had just changed her mind, "Maybe you can have ten more minutes TV time and I will just draw the baths and get it all ready." When the girls ran off excited she couldn't help but smile however the smile didn't last when she turned her attention to her phone:

 _Okay fine, I haven't started the girls bath just yet. I'm fine with either, it doesn't bother me which one you choose._

Paul hadn't managed to get any free time during Raw so he left as soon as possible after it ended and then stopped by a restaurant and grabbed some take-out before he made his way to the hotel. His room was comfortable, it wasn't bare but it wasn't too much either however it did give him plenty of room to pace if he needed to whilst he was on the phone. With his elbow he shut the door before he threw his bag onto the bed and then placed his food on the table in the corner of the room, he shrugged off his jacket and pulled out his phone from the pocket before he tossed the jacket onto the bed to call his wife.

Sat on the couch staring at the blank television screen she knew that she should do something productive but her stomach was churning knowing that Paul was going to call soon. She had to have an incredibly difficult conversation with him which made it hard to focus on anything else as her mind kept coming up with ridiculous scenarios and outcomes. When her phone began to ring she was surprised to see that it was Paul, she expected him to be calling later as he would need to get food after Raw seeing as he hadn't called during the show. Reluctantly answering the phone she played with the couch beside her, "Hi."

His mouth went dry the second that she answered the phone. He felt like he was on a first date but it was his wife, he shouldn't be this nervous as he had known and loved her for so long, "Hey. How are you?"

It was so painful hearing him talk like they were still together, her heart was still full of so much love for him but her head had put up a block and now the two parts of her body were fighting. She didn't want to talk about herself, she couldn't talk to him about herself, "Are you going to get called away soon?"

The fact that she didn't answer his question stung but he wasn't entirely surprised as he wasn't exactly her favourite person, "No, not at all. I finished at the arena and then picked up some take-out and am now in my hotel room. I have all of the time in the world for whatever it is we need to talk about."

She was trying to remind herself that it was just Paul, she didn't need to be scared to talk to him. Her heart wasn't entirely believing that she had no reason to be scared as it pounded in her chest and her chest tightened making it hard to breathe.

Silence was not normally something that he was used to when he talked to Stephanie but everything had changed and now it wasn't a comfortable silence. He didn't really know what to say to her as she was currently not acting like the person that he had married, "So . . . umm . . . your text sounded serious."

"Part of it was." She was grateful to him for starting the conversation as she had struggled to know how to but she didn't want to forget an important part of why she called, "I will start with the less serious part of my call. I am due in Brazil in a little over a week for the Eisenhower Fellowship and I wondered if you wanted to watch the girls? I have some ground rules that you will have to follow but I can send them over to you when we finish if you want to watch them."

It was a no-brainer for him as to whether he wanted to watch the girls, of course he wanted to watch them because he was their Dad and he missed them. He did wonder what the ground rules were going to be though, "Of course I will watch the girls, it will be some quality Daddy/daughter time. What are the ground rules?"

"I don't want to really take away from the important part of the call by discussing them so I will send them to your personal email later or in the morning. You can then take some time to review them and make sure that you agree to follow them before I tell the girls what is going on." There was another reason as to why she didn't want to discuss them with him right now over the phone, she didn't want to argue with him as she emotionally couldn't handle it. If he had the rules in an email he could calm down before he called her or if he called her angry she could hang up on him and wouldn't feel obligated to finish the call as she had something important to discuss with him.

He didn't understand what could be so wrong about them that she thought that he wouldn't agree to them, he figured it was the normal ground rules of no candy for breakfast and not allowing them to stay up late on a school night etc. He would agree to whatever would make her happy right now, "Sure, whatever you want. So what is the serious thing we need to talk about?"

"Aurora."

Paul wasn't sure whether to be relieved that it was just about one of the girls or to start to panic. His initial thoughts had been that she was going to ask him for a Divorce so he considered himself to be lucky on that part that she hadn't as it meant that he had more time to win her back. The big thing that meant that he couldn't relax was the fact that she had texted him saying that they needed to talk 'asap' which had now started his mind going a million miles a second, "Is she okay?"

What did 'okay' even mean? She wasn't sure that she could be covered by that word and she certainly didn't know if their daughter could be. Sighing deeply as it all weighed down so heavily on her mind she shifted on the couch and tucked her feet beneath her in an effort to get comfortable, "Physically yes, emotionally not so much. She blames herself for you not being here, she thinks that you left because she has basically driven you away because she doesn't look like the other two. She also thinks that you don't love her as much as you love Murphy and Vaughn and that you basically just can't be here around her."

"Is she crazy?! I know I shouldn't say it but why the hell would she think that I don't love her as much as the other two just because of how she looks?" The words had tumbled out of his mouth before he had even thought about it. He was so shocked and outraged at the idea of anybody thinking that he didn't love any of his daughters as much as the others that he just reacted to it.

She was angry that he had the nerve to talk down their daughters feelings and just assume she was crazy. If he wasn't going to fight for the health and happiness of all of their children then she would have no problem doing it all by herself, "No your daughter is not crazy. She is just hurt and confused and I don't appreciate you calling her crazy."

Well he had just managed to successfully piss Stephanie off and that was not a good thing to do, "I didn't mean it like that, I swear I don't think she is actually crazy. I just don't understand why she would think those things because none of them are true."

She knew that she shouldn't have snapped at him because she knew that he didn't mean it like that but it was so easy to get angry with him these days. With so many unresolved feelings surrounding the revelation that he had been having an affair her emotions were all over the place with him, "She asked me if you loved me, I didn't deny that so please don't you deny it either. Right now she isn't in a place where she can understand the difference between you not loving me because these things happen with adults and you still loving her. With her blaming herself for you leaving and thinking that you don't love her because she doesn't look like her sisters I am trying to get her to understand that it's not true, I don't think I'm the right person to explain it and for her to believe it though."

It sounded like he didn't have just one of his girls to work on to get them to believe that he loved them, it sounded like he had two of them with his wife apparently not believing it either. "I won't deny that I love you because if I did that would be a lie. I know that you don't believe it and you probably don't want to hear it either but I do love you."

As she grumbled beneath her breath about him wasting her time telling her lies she had to keep her mind focussed on why they were talking. He was right, she really didn't want to hear him say that he loved her because this wasn't about him winning her back, "This isn't about you trying to get back in my good books, this is about our daughter. If you could find time for her this week I think it would be a good thing for the two of you to spend some one on one time together as she doesn't want to go out on Saturday with you." She was quite proud of herself for not snapping at him or insulting him.

Mentally trying to remember his schedule for this week he wanted to make time for Aurora as soon as possible, "Uh . . . I get in from Smackdown about three Wednesday morning, I have meetings most of the day, I am at Full Sail all day Thursday and I'm not sure exactly what Friday holds. I could get out of the office about five on Wednesday which would give me chance to change and then I could take her out for dinner just the two of us?"

If he had meetings all day she didn't believe that he would manage to do it. A day of meetings generally ended up with you being behind schedule, "How are you going to do your work and still get out of the office at five?"

"I'll take it with me, I will do it back at the hotel after I drop Aurora back home after our dinner. I don't care if I am working long into the night, you are all far more important to me than sleep." In an ideal world he would need at least a couple of hours sleep before he went to Full Sail for NXT, that was always a long day but it was about time he started to put his family first again.

This was the Paul that she had married, that Paul would always put his family first and do everything he had to do to make sure that they were happy even at the expense of his sleep. Getting up from the couch she wandered through to the kitchen resisting the overwhelming urge to hang up the phone on him, it was a struggle mentally trying to handle the two aspects of her feelings for him. She opened the fridge scanning it for no particular reason as she wasn't hungry, "Just stop Paul, it's not going to get you back into the house."

He had no idea that she was going to get so upset at him for doing what she wanted, "I know it won't, it doesn't make it any the less true though. Yes I know I fucked up and I know it won't happen overnight but I really want you to forgive me so we can move on as a family. I will work to your time-scale and do anything and everything you ask of me to prove my commitment to both you and to my family."

How did he manage to piss her off so spectacularly when they were meant to be having a discussion about their eldest daughter? She had moved from looking through the fridge to look through the cupboards and proceeded to slam the cupboard door shut out of a combination of anger and irritation before she walked out of the kitchen mindful of the girls being asleep and not wanting to wake them up, "Back to Aurora. What are you committing to?"

The slam of the cupboard door had him wincing on the other end of the phone, Shane was right when he said that he had a lot of work to do, "I am committing to picking her up at around six o'clock, just before if I can make it, on Wednesday because no matter what I don't think your Dad would take well to me skipping Smackdown. I will take her out to dinner and spend some one on one time with her and try to get her to understand that I do love her." He couldn't help but think how he needed to first get Aurora to believe that he loved her and then he would have to move on to getting Stephanie to believe it too, it didn't seem like it would be a quick or easy process for that though.

Satisfied with his answer she was glad that he was taking his responsibilities as a Father seriously still and putting the girls first, "Okay good. I won't tell her that you're coming so she doesn't have chance to find a way out of it." She didn't mention that she wasn't going to mention it to make sure that she wasn't disappointed if and when he didn't turn up.

He sensed that there was a little more to that comment than simply wanting it to be a surprise but he decided not to push his luck with her tonight by saying anything. He already felt like he was on thin ice with her and mentioning it would probably crack the ice and send him into freezing cold water, "That is fair enough, I don't want to make your life harder. Is there anything else you wish to talk to me about?"

Stephanie couldn't help but be relieved that it was almost over, sighing softly she just had to be polite for another minute, "No, I don't think there is anything at all, everything else seems to be going okay. Thank you for taking the issue with Aurora seriously. Goodnight Paul." She didn't wait for him to reply, she could listen to anything nice he had to say at the end so she just ended the call with the intention of now going to bed.

"Of course I would take it seriously, she is our daughter and her and everybody else's happiness means everything to me. Sleep well and goodnight Stephanie." Not receiving any sort of response he looked at his phone and frowned seeing that she had hung up on him, "Can things get any worse?" There was not a whole lot of point to keeping his phone in reaching distance as it wasn't like his wife would text him so he tossed it onto the bed behind him. He finally turned his attention to his dinner and began to take it out of the bag not caring too much that it was cold as that conversation had been an important one to have.

Sitting down at the table with his meal in front of him he began to push the food around the container thinking back to the conversation with Stephanie and the effect his actions had had on the rest of his family. Not only had he hurt his wife so much that he wasn't sure they would even be able to come back from it but his actions had resulted in his daughter thinking that she was at fault for it. He would give up everything if right now he could be laying with his daughter holding her tightly whilst telling her how much he loved her.

Despite the hunger he was feeling he pushed the container away roughly. He didn't care when the cutlery fell off the sides spreading food over the table, he felt like crap and he just couldn't face eating.


	13. Chapter 13

When he arrived back at the hotel on Wednesday night he immediately changed into a pair of jeans. Paul was exhausted as he hadn't gotten to bed until close to four and then was up at half past six, then his meetings had gone longer than they should have and he was now exhausted. He stifled a yawn as he looked at the pile of work on the table that he was going to come back to, if he got any sleep he felt like he was going to be lucky but this was far more important to him. As soon as he was dressed he pulled on his leather jacket before he headed out so he could make a quick stop before he went by the house.

Anxiety filled her stomach as she arrived home from work, she didn't see his car in the drive though so it meant he wasn't here yet. She pulled her car into the garage before she walked into the house to see the Nanny starting on dinner, "Do you remember what I said?"

"Yes, of course. I'm cooking something for the girls where it won't be obvious that there is none meant but if it comes to it there is something there."

She felt bad for thinking the worst of him but what else was she meant to do? Stephanie checked her watch and sighed at the realisation that she still had time to waste and now she needed to distract herself, "I am going to go and check on the girls and see how their day was a minute. If the door goes please don't answer it."

It was only a short distance from the kitchen to the den so she was soon in the doorway smiling at the girls all playing nicely on the floor together, "Good evening."

There were squeals of excitement as Vaughn jumped up off the floor and ran over to her practically tackling her, "Mommy you early."

Quickly changing the way she was stood so she didn't feel like she was going to fall over she leant down and hugged her daughter, "Not that early, I just couldn't deal with paperwork any more tonight. If you want me to go again I will." Before she had chance to move she had three sets of arms around her, "I will take that as a no. So what are we playing?"

She allowed herself to be dragged across the room and soon she was sitting on the floor being told the instructions. Stephanie had lost herself in the game so was slightly startled when the doorbell rang, "Ugh. Aurora do you want to go and see who that is whilst I get up please?"

The little girl obediently ran to the door and looked through the glass rolling her eyes at who she saw, "It's Dad."

Almost surprised that he was actually here she called out for her to open the door as the other two ran past her to see him.

Carefully opening the door Aurora motioned behind her, "Mom's coming now and judging by the noise so are Murphy and Vaughn."

The hostility he was feeling from his daughter hurt, "I haven't come to see any of them, I have come to see you." He carefully pulled the flowers from behind his back where he was holding them and then held them out towards her, "I brought you these and wanted to ask you if you would like to go out to dinner with me? Just the two of us."

Taken back by the comment she just stood there silently staring at him unsure of what to say.

When she reached the door Stephanie noticed how the other two girls were desperately trying to get their Dad's attention, "Girls, give your Dad a moment, he's talking to your sister." Once they were quieter she turned her attention to Aurora sensing the hesitation, "Aurora do you remember what we spoke about the other night?"

The little girl turned to face her Mom and nodded her head, "Yeah."

"Why don't you let him prove things to you."

Slowly turning back to face him she took the offered flowers from her Dad's hand, she wanted so badly for him to love her like he loved her sisters, "I'd like to go to dinner with you."

He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief that she had agreed to go with him, "Why don't you go and grab your shoes and a jacket and then we can head out."

She wanted to make sure that her daughter was okay so Stephanie motioned to where Aurora had run off to, "I'm going to check on her."

Quickly pulling the other bunch of flowers from behind his back he held them out to her, "Before you do, these are for you."

She didn't know how to react so she simply took them, "You shouldn't have."

"I wanted to, I l . . ." The word was on the tip of his tongue but the glare he received made him stop in the middle of his sentence leaving him to just watch as she walked off.

With his wife checking on his eldest daughter he turned his attention to the youngest two who were currently stood pouting but he had a feeling he knew what it was about, "I have something poking in my back, I don't suppose you could help me could you please? I don't think I can reach."

The girls walked either side of him until they reached his back and picked up his jacket, "You gots sumthing in your pocket Daddy."

"Well can you get it out please? It's poking me." He helped the girls by lifting his jacket up and soon felt the flowers being removed, he hoped they liked them, "So what was it?"

"It was a flower Daddy. Who's it for?"

Bending down he kissed Murphy on the top of the head, "You and your sister, if you want them, you can always give them to your Mom if you don't want them."

Murphy held her flower tightly and shook her head, "No, I keep it please."

"It's all yours Princess."

"Why you taking Rory out?"

He tried to think of the best way to put it but he was struggling. Eventually he found the right words to explain it to her, "Your sister hasn't been happy and I want to try and cheer her up."

He hadn't realised that Vaughn had been paying attention to them as he thought she was engrossed in examining her flower so he was surprised when he heard her voice, "Daddy's right Murphy, Rory's been super sad."

The little girl nodded her head in agreement with her sister, "I know Vaughny. Daddy please make Rory smile again."

It broke his heart hearing his daughter's talk like that so getting down on his knees he wrapped them both up in his arms and held them close, "I promise you that I will try my hardest. If either of you are sad I want you to promise me that you will talk to me or your Mom about it okay?"

Both girls rested their heads on his shoulders relishing this opportunity to be close to him, "Yes Daddy, we promise."

With her flowers in her hand Stephanie found Aurora sat on the floor of the living room with her flowers on the coffee table as she put her shoes on, "Are you okay Rory?"

Aurora lifted her head to look at her Mom and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know how to feel."

She put her own flowers on the couch before she knelt on the floor in front of her daughter concerned by the look on her face, "He loves you and is just trying to show you and spend time with you one-on-one. It's only dinner but if you **really** don't want to go he will understand."

She bit down her lip as she thought about it. The little girl was so conflicted, she didn't understand all of the things going on in her head and the emotions that she was feeling, "I want to go."

"I'm sure you'll have fun together and when you get home you can tell me all about it."

A smile came to her face when her Mom said that. Aurora rose from her place on the floor and wrapped her arms around her Mom's neck and hugged her tightly, "I like the sound of that."

When her daughter pulled back she rose to a standing position and followed her as she pulled on her jacket and made her way to the front door unable to deny the way Paul's face lit up as he saw Aurora ready to go.

Paul couldn't help but smile when he saw that Aurora was ready to leave. After pressing a quick kiss to his other two daughter's heads his attention was on her, "Are you ready?"

Nodding her head she stepped closer watching as her sisters moved away from him without so much as a complaint. When he opened his arms to her she walked into them and wrapped her arms around his neck and squealed and kicked her legs as he picked her up, "Daddy!"

He kept a tight grip on her as he stood up and she squealed and kicked her legs, that sound was music to his ears and it was everything he needed to hear, "What?"

"I'm in the air."

He couldn't help but laugh and press a kiss to the side of her head, "Yes you are. My old man knees can't take being on the floor any more so I had to move, I liked my hug though so I thought I'd keep the hug and move so it was a win/win."

Aurora wrapped her legs around his waist in fear of being dropped, "You're silly Daddy."

"And proud of it." He took a quick look at Stephanie but he couldn't gauge the look on her face, "I will have her back for bedtime. Be good for your Mom girls." With his eldest daughter still in his arms he turned around and carried her to the car only placing her feet on the floor when he reached it so that he could unlock the door.

Stephanie waited until his car pulled off before she ushered the girls inside, "Come on, I reckon your dinner is probably ready and if you're good there might just be some ice cream in the freezer that you can have for dessert."

"Chocolate!"

She led them both towards the kitchen laughing along the way at the predictable choice, "I don't know, we will have to wait and see."

When he pulled up outside the restaurant he hoped Aurora was happy with his choice, "Is here okay?"

Shyly she nodded her head as she looked at the signs, this was her favourite restaurant, "Yes thank you Daddy."

The two of them headed inside and took a seat at a table. Paul waited until they had ordered before he spoke to her, "Your Mom said that you didn't want to come out on Saturday."

When he mentioned that he had been told about Saturday it made her frown and look down at the table, "Yeah."

If she didn't open up to him he couldn't make it better so he reached across the table and put his hand on hers, "Aurora what's wrong? Your sisters are saying that you're sad and you don't want to come out with us and I just don't like seeing you looking so sad and want to make it better. How can I make you happy again?"

Slowly looking up from the table she looked in his eyes, "Love me and Mommy again and come home."

The look of pure heartbreak in her eyes and her words broke his heart. He quickly moved chairs to sit beside her and grabbed her small hands and held them in his much larger ones, "I do love you and your Mom very much, I don't know why you would think that I don't but I swear to you that I do. As for coming home, that isn't my decision alone to make but just because I don't live there it doesn't mean that I love you and your sisters any less than I did before."

"Don't you want to be home?"

That was the one thing that he wanted more than anything in the world. He took a deep breath and nodded his head, he didn't know where this was coming from but he wanted to make it clear how he felt, "I do, more than anything in the world. I miss waking up surrounded by my girls, life isn't the same without you all there."

She was so confused, looking down at their joined hands she looked back up at him, "Then why were you never home?"

"Because sometimes adults make some really stupid decisions that hurt those that they love the most. I made a stupid decision and I am paying the price for it, but you and your sisters don't need to worry about that. Your Mom and I both love you all very much and nothing that happens between us will change that."

"Do you prefer Murphy and Vaughn to me?"

Where the hell had that come from? As he looked at his daughter he raised his eyebrow completely ignoring the waiter as he sat down their drinks on the table, "I don't prefer any of you over the others and I don't love any of you more than the others. Your sisters are a bit more demanding and needy than you are as they are a bit younger so I can understand that it might seem like I love them more or prefer them but I promise you that it is not true at all. I guess I just took for granted that you understood why they get a bit more attention and I'm sorry for that."

She easily removed her hands from his as she slid off her seat, closing the distance between them she threw her arms around his neck, "I love you Daddy."

His heart soared hearing her say those words after being so angry at him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, "I love you too." Pressing a kiss to the side of her head he hoped he had made a breakthrough, "Never doubt my love for you okay? No matter what happens between your Mom and I we will both always love you."

"You've got to promise to be good and come home again Daddy, Mommy misses you."

If only life was as simple as that, if only missing somebody solved all of the problems in the world. A heavy sigh passed his lips as he tucked some hair behind her ear, she looked at him so full of hope and he hated to shatter the illusion that just because Stephanie apparently missed him that he could go home, "It's not that easy Princess. Your Mom is really mad at me and I understand why she is, but I can't erase what I did wrong and make it better, I have to hope that she forgives me but you don't need to worry about that. Your Mom and I will work things out between us when the time is right, you and your sisters are always going to be our number one priority and you don't need to worry about anything that happens between you Mom and I?"

A heavy frown covered her face as she didn't understand why it wasn't simple, "When I'm bad if I say I'm sorry Mommy forgives me after she puts me in time out. You need to say sorry and accept your time out."

"I have said sorry but what Daddy did was really really bad and I hurt your Mom deeply. I guess you could say Daddy is in time out right now but it might be a really really long time out."

"How long is a long time?"

He could only shrug his shoulders as resisted the urge to ask her 'how long is a piece of string?' because he knew that she wouldn't understand it, "I don't know, I wish I could tell you but I can't so we just have to make the most of the time we can get together, if you want to spend time with me though, I won't force it on you." Their dinner was placed on the table so Paul smiled politely at the waiter, "Thanks."

Aurora nodded her head seemingly satisfied with his answers, "I like this Daddy."

A soft smiled was on his face as he heard her say that, he liked it too, "I like this too Princess. Maybe we could have dinner just the two of us from time to time?"

With dinner on the table she climbed back into her seat and nodded her head, she was enjoying having this one on one time with her Dad without her sisters around, "I'd like that Daddy."

He moved his seat back so he was sitting in front of his dinner. He couldn't be happier right now as she seemed happier and they really seemed to be getting on again which was everything this evening was about. This was hopefully one down and one to go.


	14. Chapter 14

When he arrived home with Aurora he wanted to put her to bed and kiss the other girls goodnight, even if they were already asleep, but he didn't want to push his luck with Stephanie. He leaned against the wall after ringing the bell waiting for his wife to appear to throw him out, "I will see you on Saturday will I?"

Silently thinking it over she nodded her head just as the front door opened, "Yes." The little girl turned from looking at her Dad to the door and threw her arms around her Mom as soon as she saw her, "Love you Mommy."

Confused Stephanie wrapped her arms around her daughter worried that her idea had backfired, "I love you too. Did you have fun with your Dad?"

Aurora nodded her head against her Mom as she kept hold of her, "Yes thank you Mommy."

She contemplated whether to invite him in or not, he was making progress with Aurora and she didn't want to ruin that so she had to push what she wanted to the side, "Do you want your Dad to put you to bed?"

The little girl's eyes widened in surprise as she tried to hold back her excitement, "Really?! What about Murphy and Vaughny?"

"They're both asleep, you're a little past your bedtime so I have already put them to bed. You need to decide quickly as you need to have a bath and go to bed ready for school."

She turned back to her Dad and silently grabbed his hand and pulled him inside, "Come on Daddy, you can wait for me whilst I have a bath."

He couldn't help but snigger and shake his head at his daughter. She sounded so much like Stephanie it was a mixture of scary and cute, "Boy you really are your Mother's daughter."

The little girl immediately stopped and turned to face him, "What's that mean?"

"Yes, what does that mean?"

Why did he open his mouth and say that? He took a big gulp as he looked between them both, he was pretty sure his wife was about to kick him out judging by the glare he was receiving from her, "It means that you are very much like your Mom, but it's a good thing because just like your Mom you know exactly what you want and you're not afraid to say it."

Confused the little girl stared at her Dad, "I want you to love Mommy again. Like that?"

Stephanie gulped really not wanting to hear this tonight, "Come on Aurora, you need to hurry up and get into bed."

"But Daddy said I know what I want and I not afraid to say it but I not sure if he meant that."

He hadn't meant to cause an argument, "Come on Aurora, I'll talk to you as we go upstairs." He could only follow behind her daughter as she headed for the stairs, he had no idea if Stephanie was following and at this point he didn't care. He had a feeling that the statement about him loving Stephanie was connected to everything earlier and he needed to be clear with her, "I do love your Mommy, I never stopped. You don't need to worry about that though okay? No matter what happens your Mom and I will always have some love for each other because we created three beautiful girls together."

When she reached the top of the stairs she stopped and turned to face him, "So if you love **all** of us then why did you always leave us?" They had discussed it earlier and she had accepted what he said at the time but she still wasn't over it.

For Stephanie it was like watching a car wreck that she couldn't turn away from, she wanted to stop it but she just couldn't find a way.

He could sense that Stephanie was behind somewhere and he knew that she could hear it all, as she hadn't stepped in to stop it he knew that he really couldn't stop it so had to just answer it in a way that his nine year old would understand, "Well you see I wasn't thinking clearly and did something really really stupid. Whereas I should have been thinking about my family and putting them first, because you're all my everything, I just thought about myself. Everybody makes mistakes and we all learn from them, this was just a really big and really bad one and I should have known better."

"So like when I called Vaughny stupid? That was a mistake and I knew better but I still did it."

Smiling softly he nodded his head, "Kind of yeah, my mistake just hurt a lot deeper than calling somebody stupid. Don't do that to your sister again though okay please? She looks up to you a lot and you want to set a good example for her don't you?"

The little girl nodded her head and took hold of her Mom's hand as she joined them at the top of the stairs, "Yes Daddy, I promise. Come on Mommy, I don't want to get in trouble."

Stephanie couldn't help but shake her head at her daughter, she definitely could see a lot of herself in her daughter and she was going to be trouble as she grew up but she loved her deeply, "Yes Aurora." The two of them walked off towards the bathroom but she stopped briefly and turned back to Paul, "You can check on the girls, just don't wake them."

Paul breathed a sigh of relief hearing her say that, he felt so awkward in his own home and he didn't know what he was allowed to do and what he wasn't allowed to do.

Twenty minutes later and after checking on the girls Paul was lazing on Aurora's bed waiting for her to get out of the bathroom when she appeared in the doorway, "Daddy!"

Reluctantly he lifted his head and smiled sweetly, "Yes baby girl?"

"You're taking up all of my bed, where am I meant to sleep?"

First he sat up before he stood up, "I am so very sorry that I took up so much room your Royal Highness."

She quickly clambered into bed before the little girl slid under the covers, "It's 'kay, I got in now."

It was at those moments that he realised just how much he loved all of his daughters and it reminded him how much he was missing out on. As much as he didn't want to leave he knew that he had to so he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "I will get out of here and leave your Mom to put you to bed but I had fun tonight. Sleep well and be good."

Before he could leave she grabbed his arm, "Stay. I wants you and Mommy to cuddle with me."

It felt like somebody was squeezing his heart as he listened to his daughter. He didn't know what to say or how to answer her so he turned his head to look at his wife who was currently stood in the doorway, he couldn't quite gauge if she was really up for him doing that, "I don't know Aurora, your Mom said about me putting you to bed and you're in bed so she might want me to leave."

If it came to it she was going to pull out all of the tricks that she had learned that got her what she wanted. First she started by pouting in her Mom's direction, she wanted them to love each other again, "Mommy plllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeeee."

She never could deny her daughter when she begged her like that and it wouldn't kill her if he stayed for ten minutes more. As long as she didn't have to be on the same side of the bed as Paul then she would be able to do this for her daughter, "Your Dad can stay until you're fast asleep and then he will have to leave. No bragging about it to your sisters in the morning please, they'll only be mad."

Quickly nodding her head the little girl was just as quickly patting the bed either side of her waiting for her parents to join her and cuddle with her.

Paul carefully perched himself on the edge of the bed so there was a lot of room for Aurora and Stephanie so that they were comfortable, he didn't deserve to be comfortable, "So what story would you like us to read to you or tell you tonight?"

Once everybody was settled she snuggled even further down into her bed before Aurora took hold of one of each of her parent's hands, she pulled them across to lie on her stomach resting her Dad's hand over her Mom's, "Just cuddle me please."

Stephanie had remained silent throughout as she she was struggling with the close proximity to Paul. When Aurora lay her head down she rested her own head on the pillow beside her daughter, closing her eyes she tried to contain her emotions, "Anything you want Princess."

Paul had been with Stephanie long enough to know what she was feeling, well most of the time, and he was confident with the change in her voice that she was emotional. He rubbed his thumb gently across his wife's hand beneath his in what he hoped was a comforting manner, he just hoped she wasn't going to pull away, "You know we're always here for you Aurora, so if you just want a cuddle until you go to sleep then that is what you will have."

The little girl smiled sleepily as she battled to keep her eyes open as she was drained after a long day, "Love you."

Both parents leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, "Love you too."

The adults got comfortable on the bed beside their daughter and both relaxed and held her whilst she fell asleep.

The second that she knew that her daughter was asleep Stephanie pulled her hand from beneath Paul's and carefully climbed off the bed, turning to look back at him she whispered, "I'm going to check on the other two a minute so I will meet you downstairs when you are ready."

Before he had a chance to reply she had left the room leaving him alone with his eldest daughter. He sat up on the bed and stared down at her, gently brushing some hair out of her face he missed these moments, "I promise I won't let you down ever again." Slowly getting up so as not to disturb her he quietly walked out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him he made his way downstairs.

When she left Vaughn's room after putting her blankets back over her and picking up her teddy placing it back on the bed beside her she saw her estranged husband walking down the stairs. Slowly following him down the stairs there was a conversation that she knew that she needed to have with him, seeing as he was here she may as well have it now and get it over with. As she got closer to the bottom of the stairs she felt her anxiety rising, she just needed to get it over with so reaching the bottom of the stairs she motioned to the lounge, "Can we talk briefly please?"

This wasn't quite what he expected to happen but nodding his head at her he headed into the lounge. He wasn't entirely sure what she was about to say to him, he never knew what to expect from her any more so it could be good news or bad news.

"Did you read the rules I sent you the other day?"

Breathing a sigh of relief this was a conversation he was willing to have, "I did. I have no problem following all of the rules. I am no longer in any contact with the woman and there is nobody else in my life so there will be absolutely no issues with any women."

Most of what he had said had gone over her head as she stopped listening after he had said he would follow the rules, "So if I emailed them back and said that I would go to Brazil in a week then there would be no issues?"

"There would be no issues at all. I don't have to go to Full Sail so apart from Raw and Smackdown my entire time will be here with the girls."

"Okay, thank you. I will email them now and get the final details for that organised. Thank you Paul, I appreciate you taking the time to do this so I can go to Brazil."

He almost wanted to shake some sense into her to make her understand that it wasn't an imposition for him to watch his own children, "It's no problem, it will truly be my pleasure. I'd better go as I have a mountain of paperwork to get done before my flight in the morning, unless you want me to stay for something of course?"

She had definitely had enough of him tonight so was quick to shake her head, "No it's okay, you need to get that paperwork done. As soon as I know for sure what time my flights are, when I need to leave and when I will be back I will let you know."

"Thanks." It was the only thing he could think to say as she was given off a vibe that she wanted him gone as fast as possible so the aura was slightly uncomfortable anyway, "Sleep well Steph and any more problems with the girls let me know otherwise I will call tomorrow night as normal."

As she followed him to the door she couldn't help but think about her trip to Brazil, she couldn't wait for it to come so she could clear her mind, "Drive safely. Goodnight Paul."

"Goodnight Steph." He walked to the car and unlocked the door, looking briefly back towards the front door he was not surprised to see that it was already shut. He just wanted to make some sort of progress with Stephanie. They probably needed to have a proper talk about everything that had happened to clear the air so that they could move on, he couldn't and wouldn't suggest that though because he knew that it would just end badly for him as almost everything he did and said she took the wrong way. He climbed into the car and rubbed his face wearily before he started the engine to go back to the hotel.

Although she had shut the door on him Stephanie watched him leave from the living room window. As his car drove off she absently rubbed her hand where he had had his hand over hers. She missed his touch, it had been a while since she had just felt his tender touch like that and she missed it a lot, she missed him. No matter what had happened between them she was sure that she did still love him, she just wasn't sure if it was just because he was the Father of her children or if she loved him because she just loved him as a lover and a partner. Pulling herself away from the window she needed to go and change as she had a training session coming up soon. If she was changed and ready for it she could sit down and do some work and answer the email about her trip to Brazil that she had left unanswered for a few days.

Grateful for passing a late night Starbucks on his drive back to the hotel Paul sat down at the table with his iced coffee, he began to lay out his paperwork to put it in order of importance so that he could leave the least important until the flight down to Florida if he needed to. With the papers laid out in front of him he picked up his coffee and took a sip of it as he surveyed the pile of work. If he hadn't have been so stupid in the first place then he wouldn't be in this predicament where he was likely to not get much sleep because he had to work through the night. Despite knowing that he had so much work to do as he opened his laptop to begin it all his fingers took on a mind of their own, they opened a browser and typed in the name of a local real estate agents to begin browsing places that were available to rent.

After ten minutes of browsing he was frustrated and confused so shut the browser. Apparently finding somewhere to live wasn't going to be as simple as he thought, so actually visiting them was something else he was going to have to do in what free time he had. He was tired and frustrated so had to resist the urge to swipe the papers off the table out of pure irritation. He picked up the first piece of paper and began to look over it, he just had to focus on one thing at a time and it would be okay, it had to be okay for the sake of his family.


	15. Chapter 15

It was 2am when Paul got back to the hotel from the Smackdown taping and he still had to pack the rest of his things to take back to the house, he wasn't going to waste his money on a hotel room that he wasn't even going to step foot inside of for a week. He threw his bag down before he set his alarm for five o'clock with the hope that it wouldn't take him that long to pack it all.

Stephanie was laying in bed and staring at the clock on the bedside table just watching as the minutes ticked by, she had tried everything that she could think of and she was still not able to fall asleep. Tomorrow, well technically it was now later today, she was flying to Brazil and leaving the girls with their Dad. It wasn't that she didn't trust him as she knew that he would protect them with his life, there was just a small doubt in the back of her mind that he would adhere to her rules, she did not want the girls getting hurt or confused when she was in an entirely different country and couldn't be there faster than she could finish her thought. Sitting up she reached for her phone to do something that would hopefully put her mind somewhat at ease:

 _If the girls need someone will you be here for them whilst I can't be please?_

Once she had sent the text she placed her phone back on the side and lay back down, pulling the covers back over her she closed her eyes willing sleep to come.

It was just after six am and she was triple checking her suitcase for the last time, she had to make sure that she had packed everything that she could possibly need and a few extras just to be on the safe side. The girls were still fast asleep in bed and Paul was due in about fifteen minutes so she had just enough time to make a protein shake, she could drink it whilst she tried to somewhat put her mind at ease by talking to Paul when he arrived.

He was a couple of minutes early which knowing how his morning had started would mean that Stephanie would be mad, he would just risk it though as he would rather she was mad that he was early rather than mad that he was late. As he made his way to the front door he realised that he was not sure of whether the girls would be up just yet or not as he didn't know if she would have woken them up early, when he reached the door he knocked gently just incase they were asleep still.

When she heard the soft knock on the door she looked at her watch as she flipped the cap down on the bottle, he was early and she hadn't woken the girls up yet, this was going to be a disaster. She carried her shake with her as she went to open the door raising her eyebrows when she saw that he had no luggage in his hands, "Please tell me that you aren't here to tell me that you can't do it."

Immediately he shook his head realising why she had come to that conclusion, "No no, not at all. My stuff is in the car, I just wasn't sure if the girls would be awake and I didn't want to bring my bags in and wake them up if you didn't want to wake them just yet."

She breathed a sigh of relief and tried to stop her heart from thumping, she was glad that so far her trip was still on, "I haven't woken them up yet. I wanted you to arrive and to just make sure that everything was sorted with you as once I wake them up we won't have much of an opportunity to talk as things will get crazy."

"Sure, not a problem. I know most things, has anything really changed or is there anything specific you want me to know or for me not to do?"

There were a few things she wanted him not to do, a couple of them were petty and she wasn't going to sink to that level so she would stick to the important ones, "Stick to the rules I sent you, call my parents if there are any problems, call me if it is an emergency and/or one of the girls is sick and please don't spoil them too much, I have them after and I really don't need you making things harder by caving to their every whim and desire because you aren't around as much as you were."

The last thing she said actually hurt, he would never spoil them to that great a degree, sure there would be a couple of treats but it would be exactly the same as the last time she had gone away, "Of course I will call you if there is anything wrong, you are their Mom and although you are in another country you have every right to know if there is a problem. As for spoiling them, I would never spoil them to that great a degree because neither of us have ever wanted our children to be spoiled little brats and I'm not about to start to change that now. You were well aware that there were a few treats when you went away last time and it will be the same this time, the treats will not be excessive though, I promise."

She looked down at her watch and realised that she needed to go and wake the girls up, "Okay good. I need to go and wake the girls, they don't know that you were going to be here now so if you could please just stay out of sight a minute until they are dressed I would appreciate it."

"Sure, I'll go and work on breakfast and get that sorted. What would you like?"

She waved her hand dismissively, she didn't have time to eat, "I can't eat, there's no time, I'll be fine with this protein shake." She quickly left the room and she went straight upstairs to wake the girls.

Twenty minutes later and somehow she was managing to usher the girls downstairs, it had been relatively quick and easy this morning which she was grateful for, "Come on, let's get breakfast into you before I have to leave."

As the girls entered they squealed with delight and all surrounded their Dad hugging him tightly, "Daddy's here."

She couldn't help but wince at the high pitched screams that her ears were not quite ready for on only three hours sleep, but she was glad that they were all excited, "Really?! I hadn't noticed."

Paul couldn't help but snigger at Stephanie's sarcasm that had gone over all of their heads, "You do know that hugging me won't get your breakfast down you right? If you don't eat your breakfast soon then you will be late for school and I will be late for work, that means you'll be in trouble with your teachers and your Grandpa will be mad at me and when your Grandpa is mad he is scary. You don't want anybody to be subjected to your Grandpa when he's scary do you?"

It was so hard on so little sleep to keep her defences up around him, she let her defences fall slightly and she allowed herself to fall back slightly into the relationship that she used to have with him as she slapped his arm, "Don't call my Dad that, I'll tell him you said that and he'll be extra 'scary' as you put it."

Surprised by the reaction he received from her he tried not to react to it but failed as his eyebrows raised and he looked at her, in that moment as he stared at her he saw the look of shock cross her face as she pulled away from him. With her being like that with him it gave him hope, but only a small amount of hope, that they could work it out, as quickly as she had fallen back into the relationship they used to have she had left it behind and it was back to them being how things currently were again.

Angry at herself for allowing herself to fall back into that behaviour she turned to leave the room to go and get her protein shake that she had left in the lounge earlier and to take a breather.

The girls didn't notice that Stephanie left however Paul did and he knew that it wasn't a good sign, "Come on girls, go and sit down and start your breakfast please. There will be plenty of time for cuddles later."

Although Aurora had hugged her Dad with her sisters she hadn't forgiven him entirely, she was just relieved that she had him whilst her Mom wasn't around. She was the first of them to go and take her seat at the table and to pour her cereals.

Stephanie smiled when she walked back into the kitchen and saw all of the girls sat at the table eating nicely and without argument, if only they behaved like this every single morning. She leant against the counter and sipped on her protein shake just watching them together, committing it to memory for when she was away from them as she knew that it would be harder than before.

"Steph are you going to eat something before you go? You really need to which is why I have already cooked some toast and there is a bowl if you want cereals."

She groaned as she didn't want to eat, she also knew that now he had said that that if she didn't eat then the girls were bound to start on her about it as she always told them that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, "I've had a protein shake."

He nodded his head in acknowledgement that he heard and understood but he wanted to make sure that she would be okay, he just hoped that she wouldn't get mad about it, "I know you have but you also need to eat too as it will probably be a long day."

As four sets of eyes stared at her she groaned loudly, she was not going to get out of this one so just gave in and went to get the toast as it popped out of the toaster.

Twenty minutes later and she was just finishing helping Vaughn with her teeth making sure that they were nice and clean when the doorbell rang. She looked down at her watch and realised that the cab was early so she quickly dashed for the door and pulled it open, "I will be a couple of minutes okay?" As soon as the driver went back to his car she felt her stomach churning, she now had to say goodbye, "Girls, can you all come to the foyer please."

Despite the fact that she had asked for the girls Paul went and joined them as he knew that she was obviously leaving. He stood back out of the way as it was inevitable that she would have further instructions for him too once she had said goodbye to the girls.

As soon as all three of her daughters were stood in front of her she got down on her knees as she wanted, no needed, a final proper hug from them, "I have to go now but I will be back home in a week and hopefully I will be able to call you every single night so we can talk. I need you to be good for your Daddy and the Nanny because they will tell me if you aren't. I'm going to miss you all very much but I will look forward to coming home and hearing all of your news."

She had barely finished her sentence when Aurora threw her arms around her neck, "I'll miss you Mommy."

She hugged her daughter tightly, she was going to miss her too, more so than the other two as she was worried about her relationship with Paul, "You'll be fine, you have your Daddy and your sisters." She took a deep breath to control her emotions as her daughter pulled back with a tear running down her cheek which she quickly wiped away with her thumb, "It'll be okay, it's only a week."

The little girl's voice dropped to a whisper as her head bowed and she looked at the floor, "I'm scared Mommy."

Gently lifting her daughter's head with her finger she looked deeply into her eyes knowing exactly what she meant, "It'll be okay, I promise. If you need somebody other than your Dad then Grandma said that you can call her at any time and she will try to be here in person too. She isn't expecting to be out of town but if it happens she promises that she will come by as soon as she is back okay?"

The little girl was still afraid that her Dad was going to leave her again and without her Mom being there she'd be all alone and she didn't want that, at least she had her Grandma though.

After hugging her younger two daughters tightly and telling them how much she loved them she stood back up to talk to her estranged husband. She walked over to him so that the girls couldn't hear what they were saying, she took a quick glance back at them before she began speaking, "You know what I expect of you and you also have the rules that I expect you to live by. If I hear that you have broken any of those rules there will be hell to pay when I return, you will not like what you see. Please look after my babies though and if there are any problems call me."

"Of course I will, I will protect them with my life but I will live by your rules. I promise that you will not hear a single word about any of them being broken because I will not break them."

She didn't entirely believe him but she had to give him the opportunity, "I should hope so." Stephanie turned around and grabbed her jacket from the railing and pulled it on before quickly kissing each girl on the top of the head and then picked up her bags, "Love you and behave. Bye."

As she walked out of the house she took one last look back at her daughters before she handed the driver her bags to put in the trunk. Reluctantly climbing into the back of the cab she shut the door but kept her eyes on the front door where her daughter's were stood, leaving them this time was so much harder than it was before and she didn't realise how much more it would hurt.

She waved to them as the car pulled out of the driveway, it was only when they were completely out of sight that she turned to face the front of the cab and said a silent prayer that her daughters would be okay.

Once the cab was out of sight Paul gently clapped his hands, "Come on, we need to finish getting ready and then we need to leave so that you can get to school on time." He watched the girls walk back in slowly with such long faces and it made Paul sad, he hated seeing his daughters so unhappy and Stephanie had only just left, he had a lot of work to do to cheer them up and to keep them happy for the next week, he was going to do it though.

As soon as he shut the front door he gathered together all of the shoes from the shoe rack by the door, he ignored their protests and comments about wanting to stay home and handed them each their own pair, "Please put your shoes on whilst I grab the bags." He rushed into the kitchen to get all of their lunches and put them in their individual bags, he had no idea how Stephanie had done this alone since she threw him out, he felt like he was about to lose his mind and he had only been doing it for two minutes. It was such a different feeling to the last time where she had gone away because then they were a settled family unit and now they weren't which had an effect on the girls' emotions.

Paul inhaled deeply as he checked each bag to make sure they had everything before he went back to find them. It was at that point that he realised he needed to put his car in the garage and use the other car for work and to take the girls to school. He was so out of practice at doing the school run he was sure he was forgetting something but he wasn't sure what, tomorrow he was going to have to be more organised as otherwise nobody would end up where they should be and with the right things.

He left the girls safely in the house whilst he put his car in the garage, once his car was locked he went back inside and swapped keys, "Come on girls let's go, you don't want me to have to tell your Mom that you're already playing up do you?"

There was a lot of unhappy grumblings but they allowed him to usher them out to the garage and into the car to get on their way to school and work.


	16. Chapter 16

After almost all day travelling Stephanie finally found herself entering her hotel room which would be her home for the next week, she had a couple of hours to herself and then everybody on the trip was meeting up for dinner. She set her bags down on the floor before taking a moment to just sit on the bed and relax back, she was exhausted after barely sleeping and then a long day travelling but she knew that this trip would be worth all of the exhaustion.

As she attempted to relax she looked at her watch, which was still set to east coast time, she wished that she could speak to the girls right now to make sure that they were okay but she should probably wait an hour to call home to make sure that they were home. Reluctantly pushing herself up so she was sitting up again, she realised that relaxing was not going to happen right now as she was preoccupied so she decided to go and have a shower to freshen up to try and make herself feel better and more alive.

Twenty minutes later she walked out of the bathroom and definitely felt better for the shower, opening her suitcase she rifled through it pulling out some clean underwear and a maxi dress and put those on. Once she was dressed she looked at the clock on her phone as her watch was in the bathroom, there was a chance that she would get through now so she decided to take her chances and call to see if the girls were home from school yet.

She carefully took a seat on the edge of the bed and dialled the number for the cell phone they had bought between the girls, it was only used for them to call her or Paul or vice versa when they were away and nothing else. She wasn't sure that they would be near it had been in a drawer but she had taken it out and charged it the night before. She had been home for a few weeks and Paul had just called her cell phone to talk to the girls so the phone hadn't been used and may have been forgotten about.

The girls had just gotten home from school and were sat around the kitchen table having a drink and sharing an apple and a banana as they were all hungry but didn't know what they wanted as a snack.

Murphy reached for a slice of apple when suddenly she heard ringing, "It's ringing, it's ringing!" Immediately sliding off her chair she ran off leaving the Nanny stood there confused, her head had been in the fridge as she was looking for the ingredients for dinner so had no idea what she was talking about.

The little girl followed the sound of the ringing until she found the phone on the side in the lounge, as she picked up the phone she saw 'Mom' and squealed fumbling with the phone until she was able to answer it, "Mommy!"

The second that she heard the sound of her daughter's voice she smiled as she felt relief wash over her, "Hey baby girl. Where are your sisters?"

"They's in da kitchen, we was eating apple and banana."

"That sounds delicious. Why don't you take the phone back into the kitchen and ask Nanny Rae to put it on speaker and I can talk to you all then."

"Okay Mommy." Carefully carrying the phone back through to the kitchen she held it out to the Nanny, "Put Mommy on speaker phone please."

Taking the phone the Nanny quickly turned the speaker on before she handed it back to the little girl, "There you go. Take a seat at the table please and put the phone down so you don't drop it."

Murphy walked over to the table and placed the phone down in the middle of them all as best she could, "Mommy you still there?"

"I'm still here. Are your sisters there now?"

"Mommy!"

She couldn't help but chuckle at the excitement, she definitely had her answer, "I will take that as a yes. How are you all? Are you all behaving?"

When Paul arrived home for work he was looking forward to actually putting the girls to bed and talking to them face to face to see how their days had been. As he pulled into the drive he failed to notice the car that had followed him all of the way home, it stopped just outside the house and waited there until he opened the garage door and drove his car inside before it sped off.

He pushed the kitchen door open carefully before he walked into the house, he immediately stopped where he was and just taking a moment to enjoy the sound of the laughter coming from somewhere in the house, he didn't realise exactly how quiet his life had been until he came home to noise. After shutting and locking the door behind him he dropped his bag out of the way before he went off in search of the girls, he found them sat on the floor in the den watching a DVD, "Did you not hear the car?"

All of the girls jumped up from the floor before they rushed over to hug him, "Daddy!"

Aurora hugged her Dad briefly before she went back to her seat on the floor, "We spoke to Mommy."

He lifted his head to look at his daughter, if he didn't know better he would have said that she had mentioned Stephanie out of malice but he also knew his brain was acting crazy because of a lack of sleep. His hands ran over his face rubbing it wearily, he was genuinely concerned for his wife after seeing the bags under her eyes, "How was she? What did she say?"

"She'd just got out of the shower as she was tired after travelling all day. She said she missed us already and she was going out to dinner tonight so wouldn't call again today."

If he didn't feel like he was being punished already he definitely felt like the universe was punishing him now by putting the image of his wife wet and naked in the shower into his mind, "We can always text her to say goodnight when you go to bed so she knows that you're thinking of her."

The girls all nodded their heads eagerly, "Family picture!"

He couldn't help but laugh as he nodded his head, "Sure, whatever you want. Let's get you ready for bed though and then we can maybe watch a movie or some TV before you have to go to bed."

After dismissing the Nanny for the evening he went and gave the girls their bath before they all went back downstairs and sat on the couch, "Who wants a blanket?" When they all put up their hand he left the room, he soon returned with a spare double bed sized comforter and spread it out over the three of them, "There you go. I will take a picture to send to Mommy and then we can watch whatever you want."

Stood in front of them he tried to get a good framing on the shot but it was hard when they kept squirming and moving about, "Can you please sit still for me so I can take this picture?"

"It's not a family picture without you Daddy."

He wasn't sure how to explain that he was pretty sure Stephanie didn't want to see his face without getting questions asked, "But don't you think your Mom would much prefer to see her three daughters sitting all cuddled up nicely together? I do."

After some whispering between them the three girls finally settled down for Paul to take the picture. As soon as he had taken the picture he put a movie in for them to watch together before bed and if they fell asleep before it ended he would just carry them upstairs to their rooms. Carefully sliding beneath the comforter he sat himself in the middle of the girls letting the comforter fall back down covering them as he sent his wife the picture:

 _The girls just wanted to say goodnight. Bath time is over and they're just cuddled on the couch watching a movie before bed. Be safe and have fun._

He almost deleted the last sentence before he sent the text but he kept it in and sent it. His phone somehow found its way to the coffee table before he settled down to cuddle his daughters and to enjoy a movie he had seen countless times before.

After dinner Stephanie went for a walk rather than going back to the hotel as that would allow her mind to go into overdrive thinking about Paul. She missed so much about him but she wasn't sure if she could ever forgive him for what he had done to her.

Rather than continuing to walk and get herself lost she leant against a wall to enjoy the surroundings before she returned to the hotel. As she did so she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, she pulled it out to see the picture of her daughters and it just made it hurt even more, they deserved a stable family and she felt like all she was giving them was instability. Tired and stressed she ran a hand over her face wishing it would make her feel better. She decided to send a quick reply back before she headed back to the hotel, telling him to give them all a hug and a kiss and tell them goodnight and that she loved them she slipped her phone into her pocket and began to walk back in the direction that she had came from.

Stephanie was almost back at the hotel when she noticed what appeared to be a Mother and her daughter, they were coming in the opposite direction but veered slightly towards her and the Mother quickly said something to her in Portuguese

Slightly afraid she looked at them a little blank, Stephanie was so confused by what was going on and her exhaustion didn't help, "I'm sorry but I don't speak Portuguese"

She remained stood there briefly as Mother and daughter argued in Portuguese, she was just about to walk off when the daughter spoke up, "I'm sorry about my Mother, she has this feeling about certain people and she can't help herself."

"Uh . . . okay? I have no idea what was said but it's okay, I'm not offended. Have a good evening,"

She went to just walk away when the Mother grabbed her arm repeating her earlier statement in Portuguese again, "Okay can you seriously ask your Mom to let me go and translate what she was saying please as I'm getting frightened."

The daughter sighed heavily slapping her Mother's arm gently forcing her to let go of Stephanie's arm, "I'm apologising in advance for my Mother's behaviour and for what I am about to say. She said that the weight that you are carrying on your shoulders is not your burden to bear."

Stephanie could only blink, she wasn't sure what to make of that as it certainly made no sense, "I don't have a burden that I am carrying."

She watched them as the Mother quickly yanked on the daughter's arm, firing something off in Portuguese it caused the daughter to roll her eyes before they had a short but heated exchange in Portuguese, "My Mother said that you are lying to yourself, your posture shows the weight of the burden that you are carrying. I don't know if this means anything to you but she said that the truth will set you free, don't allow society tell you what you should do as only you know what is right for your family."

Stephanie didn't know what to say, that had been so close to reality that it was scary, "I've got to go. Tell your Mom thanks and I will bear that in mind."

She rushed back to the hotel and went straight to the room and locked herself inside, she had hoped that Brazil would give her answers but she wasn't expecting them to come from a strange old lady on her first night here.

Kicking off her shoes she made her way over to the window, she looked out over the street below where people were still milling around including a few couples holding hands and she missed that a lot. She just missed the gentle touches and the way that he would pull her closer when he was speaking to somebody about her and the way that he would hold her in bed at night. It wasn't helping her to think about that so she shook her head to get the thoughts out of her head before she walked away from the window, pulling some papers out from her bag she sat down on the bed to go over the plans for tomorrow.

When the movie ended Paul carefully got up from the couch moving the comforter out of the way before he took the movie out and turned it all off, he then turned back to the couch to see two of the three girls out cold, "I'm just going to put your sisters to bed a minute and then my attention is all yours okay?" Carefully scooping up his youngest daughter he carried her up to bed first.

As soon as the youngest two were safely tucked up in bed Paul sat on the couch beside Aurora, "You should get going to bed soon, I don't want your Mom to think that I let you all walk all over me and you get to stay up as late as you want."

She knew where she wasn't wanted so Aurora stood up and began to walk away, "Night Dad."

He saw the pain on his daughter's face immediately, "Wait, Aurora I didn't mean that you needed to go to bed right now, I just meant soon. You can stay down here for another ten minutes if you want or I can come up with you."

She turned back around making her way back to the couch and sat down, "Do you think Mommy will come home?"

He blinked a few times after the question. He wasn't sure that he had heard her question right, or at least he was hoping that he hadn't, "What did you ask please? I don't think I heard you right."

"I asked if you thought Mommy will come home?"

He was baffled why she would think that Stephanie wouldn't come home, "Of course she will, you know she'll be back next week and wild horses couldn't keep her away from you. Why do you think that she wouldn't?"

"Because she's free now?"

Paul moved closer to his daughter and wrapped an arm around her, it was in that moment where she was truly vulnerable that allowed him to see the damage that he had caused to his family. He gently raised her head so that she was looking at him, he knew that he was terrible at this but he just hoped that she would believe him, "Your Mom will never be 'free' as you put it as she doesn't want to be, she loves you and your sisters more than life itself and you couldn't keep her away from you. Being away from you girls is the hardest thing about what she is doing right now but it is an amazing opportunity for her both personally and professionally and one she couldn't pass up. Just because your Mom isn't here in person it doesn't mean that you're not on her mind all of the time and it doesn't mean that she isn't wishing that she was here with you."

She leaned into her Dad's side and hugged him tightly, "I miss her Daddy, I wish she was here with us."

He could tell that partially this was to do with her being tired but he also knew a lot of it was also to do with the one stable parent that had been there now wasn't there. Carefully manoeuvring the little girl onto his lap he held her closely, "Just because your Mom isn't here in person it doesn't mean that we can't include her. We can take lots of pictures and write her little notes telling her what we did so she can feel like she was there with us."

Being wrapped up in her Dad's arms the little girl's eyes started drooping closed, "Promise?"

There was something about looking down at his daughter as she fought to stay awake that made his heart ache. Despite her not seeing it he nodded his head, "I promise. Let's get you to bed though, you look tired." Cautiously standing up with his eldest in his arms he carried her upstairs before he lay her down in her bed, covering her with her blankets he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, "Goodnight Aurora."

He left her room and pulled the door closed behind him, he then checked on his other two daughters before he made his way down to the garage to grab some of his stuff out of the car to take up to the bedroom.

After taking his stuff to the bedroom he changed and then went to get a good workout in in the gym. He had really missed having access to his own gym with all of the equipment he liked, being able to get a really good workout in was exactly what he needed.

As he walked out of the bathroom wearing only a towel he winced with every step that he took, he was feeling the workout already as he had gone at it hard but it was worth it. Removing some shorts out of one of the bags he pulled off the towel and put those on before he collapsed into bed, sighing happily it felt so good to be in bed at home.

Once he had settled in the bed he closed his eyes and took a moment to just enjoy the feeling, but as he breathed in a mixture of smells hit his nose and as he smelt them more he recognised it to be a mixture of his wife's perfume and body wash, the exact smell he loved so much. He ignored the way that his body complained at the movement and rolled to the side, he pulled her pillow a little closer to him and inhaled deeply, he wished that she was here and he had the real thing but it gave him the incentive to work hard to achieve it. He was going to win her back and he was going to be able to lay in bed and hold her in his arms and be able to enjoy the smell that was entirely hers in person. Until then he was going to savour this moment and make the most of the chance he had to remember things he had forgotten about her since they had been apart.


	17. Chapter 17

Thursday morning had been a success, Paul had managed to get all of the girls up, ready and to school on time with minimal fuss. At lunch he had run some errands and was hoping that what he was about to present them with would make them happy, more specifically he hoped that it would make Aurora happy.

When he walked into the kitchen he was surprised to see them all sat around the kitchen table working. He hid the surprise behind his back before he drew their attention to him, "Whatcha doing?" It wasn't a surprise to him when they came running towards him but he held his hand up to stop them, "Hold it a second, I have something for you all."

Murphy's eyes widened, "A present? I've been good, I've not been in time out at all today."

The fact that his daughter said that made him suspicious, "And then Nanny Rae tells me the truth. Has Murphy, or any of the girls, been in time out today?"

All eyes turned to Rae and she hated the way that the girls looked at her so pleadingly but she wasn't going to lie to her boss, "Yes, Murphy was in a time out earlier."

Cue the whining from said little girl, "Nanny Raaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeee, now Daddy won't give us the pwesent 'cause I was bad."

He shouldn't find his daughter whining to be adorable but he did this one time but he did want it to stop, "Enough whining Murphy. I never said that you all had to be good to get this, I just asked Nanny Rae if you had because you made it sound like you hadn't been. Aurora and I had an interesting chat last night and this is the result." Removing the glass jar from behind his back he showed it to them, "This is for you to be able to write little notes to your Mom about your day so that when she comes home she can read about everything that you did."

"Can we write anything in it?"

He wasn't entirely sure what Aurora meant but shrugged, "It's your jar of notes for your Mom, I have even labelled it 'Notes for Mom' and I promise that nobody else will touch it. I will put it safely on the side so that you can all reach it but please be careful as it is glass. You should get back to your homework though, I will put this on the side and go and get a pad and pen that I can put with it and then I will join you to help you."

The girls made their way back to the table whilst Paul left the room to retrieve a pen and some paper so that they didn't even have to ask for something so that they could write a note to Stephanie. His biggest hope about this was that it made the girls happy and that when his wife returned from Brazil she would have a better understanding of how the time had gone.

Stephanie's first day in Brazil had gone well, she had felt that it had been productive and she had enjoyed herself as she had to stay focussed the entire time and it meant that she had no time to think about Paul. Now that everyone was just out having a drink together she found herself not tuned into the conversation and instead was thinking about him. Her pity party for one was interrupted when she received a nudge by somebody's shoulder, turning her head she frowned, "What do you want Josh?"

"Your attention? Seriously Steph, it's like you're not even here."

Quickly glancing at the group who didn't seem to notice much she realised that she was just bringing the mood down, "Sorry, I'll get out of here and stop bringing you all down."

Josh was confused, "I said that when? It's like you're an entirely different person this time, what's wrong?"

"You don't even want to know."

The two of them had grown quite close and he liked to think of her as his friend. As a friend he hated to see her so sad and wanted to see if he could do something to cheer her up, "Do you want a non-judgemental shoulder to cry on or somebody to vent at? I'm good at listening and I won't even say anything if you don't want me to so you can get it all off your chest and feel better for it."

It would be nice to get it off her chest to somebody entirely impartial who had no vested interest in the outcome, "Do you promise that you won't say anything to **anyone** about what I say to you?"

Nodding his head he could definitely keep that promise, "Who am I going to tell? You are fully aware of how dull my life is right?"

For the first time since they had finished with their Eisenhower Fellowship stuff for the day she genuinely smiled, "How can I turn down that very generous offer?"

"You can't." He stood up and then reached his hand out towards her, "Would madam like any help?"

She placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her up before she pulled her hand back so they could weave their way through the crowd so they could go somewhere quieter.

When they got outside they moved along the street a little until they were away from the noise and took a seat at an empty table outside a closed café, "So what is on your mind? The girls are okay aren't they?"

"It all depends on your definition of 'okay'. A couple of weeks ago I found out that my husband had been having an affair for a couple of months so I kicked him out. He keep trying to get me to take him back but how am I meant to ever trust him again? Our youngest two daughters aren't that affected by what has happened but the eldest is badly affected to the point that she thought he didn't love her any more and that she was the reason that he left. I feel like I am such a shit Mom for putting them through that and now coming away it is like I have abandoned them even though my . . . their Dad is with them."

It was little wonder that she was quiet and distracted with all of that going on but he didn't want to open his mouth and say something if all she wanted was to get it off his chest, "Wow."

After pouring her heart out she realised that she needed more, she needed input from him, "You can say more than that, it might help me if you did."

"On the condition that no matter what I say you won't get mad."

She couldn't resist rolling her eyes at him, "I don't have the time, energy or inclination to get mad at you over it when I am the one asking for your input."

Josh took a deep breath as he leant back in the chair, "I can understand why you are quiet, you have a lot going on in your head and you are incredibly concerned for your daughters which is the sign of a really good Mother. What is Paul's reasoning for what he did?"

"We haven't spoken about it a lot, I have kind of refused to listen to him explain himself."

"Maybe you should listen to him and maybe you should ask him whatever it is that you need to ask for the sake of your sanity. It is pretty obvious that you are in no way at peace with this situation which isn't going to help you or the girls move on from it. Once you have his reasons and you get to ask any and all of your questions then you make a decision what you want to do and hopefully move on and be happy again."

Silently contemplating what he had said she wondered if he had a point, "Do you really think talking about it with him will help me?"

He actually knew nothing but it felt like the right suggestion to make for her, "Considering that not knowing anything clearly isn't making you happy then I don't think you have much of an option do you? What is the worst that can come from talking to him? You realise that you can't move past it and your marriage can't be saved so you decide to Divorce. Wouldn't it be better to figure that out now and figure out a way to work together for the sake of your girls rather than dragging it out for months and just being stuck in limbo? I may not have known you for many years but I do know that you are really unhappy right now and you can't keep living like this."

The idea of talking to him was like a snake wrapping itself around her chest and slowly squeezing tighter and tighter until she could barely breathe. Being in limbo forever did seem far more appealing than hearing his side of the affair story and facing up to the reality of what that meant for them as a couple.

Josh reached across the table and put his hand over Stephanie's as it rested on the table and squeezed it gently, "It was only an idea you know, you don't have to listen to my really poor advice if it isn't what is best for you."

Slowly lifting her head to look at him she saw the concern in his eyes and felt guilty, "I'm sorry. It's not what you have said, it is the fact that I know you're right and it is scary. Paul has been my everything for the past ten plus years, he is the only man that I have ever been able to imagine spending the rest of my life with and us being old and grey together and to think about losing all of that and losing him is fucking scary. I know that I can't spend the rest of my life not talking about it just because I am too scared about losing him forever, I just have to gather the strength to have the conversation."

"You can't do anything for the next week, well almost, so just relax, block all thoughts of what is waiting at home and the decisions that you have to make and focus on this experience and making the most out of it."

As hard as it would be she knew that he was right, "You're right. I will try to focus on this experience and just speak to the girls and ignore him. Thank you so much for listening to me but let's get back to the others and try to enjoy the evening."

The two stood up and walked back to the bar to join the rest of the group. As they walked together she gripped onto Josh's arm, "Is it bad if I say that I think that you are going to be a good friend for a really long time?"

He couldn't help but laugh at her, "Honestly it's a good thing. I really like you as a friend and it makes me feel better knowing that you only see me as a friend too. We can be certain in our friendship and not worry that the other one will be trying to hit on you or will take what you say the wrong way. Friends forever and all of that mushy shit."

"We will have to toast to that, 'friends forever and all of that mushy shit'." For the first time since she found out about Paul's affair she was happy and if she could bottle this moment for when she got home and when she needed it she would, as she couldn't she would have to settle for just trying to remember it.

Back in America and Paul had spent a quiet evening helping the girls with their homework before they all settled on the couch to watch Sasha Banks versus Bayley from NXT Takeover: Brooklyn as that was what they wanted.

The girls were now all in bed and the last time he had checked on them they were al fast asleep so he was sat at the kitchen table with his work spread out across it. His eyes were starting to hurt from focussing so much on the screen so he reached down into his bag and pulled out the listings he had picked up at lunchtime to look through.

He spent ten minutes going through the listings seeing what was on offer before he just placed them on the table to the side of him and went back to work.

With the house being silent he could hear every single noise so when it sounded like one of the stairs creaked he stopped typing and listened intently to see if he could hear one of the girls calling but he couldn't. No other sounds could be heard so he went back to his work but was soon interrupted by Aurora's appearance, "Daddy I can't sleep."

Immediately stopping typing he turned in his chair to look at her, "Do you mean you can't get back to sleep?"

The little girl walked closer and nodded her head, "Can I stay here with you?"

She still had one more day of school to get through so he would have to get her back into bed soon but five minutes wouldn't hurt, "Sure, for five minutes. Do you want some warm milk or anything?"

Aurora climbed onto a seat beside her Dad, "Not really thank you. What are you doing?"

Paul couldn't help but make a face at the mention of his work, "Writing a report on some of the new guys I saw at NXT recently. The trainers down there want to see what my opinions were so that they can adjust their training or know what they need to work on more." Getting up from his seat he walked over to the fridge to get himself a bottle of water out of it.

With her Dad at the fridge Aurora picked up the pile of papers in front of her as she spotted the picture on the front. As she turned the papers towards her she noticed that the picture was of a house, "Are we moving Daddy?"

Fuck, he forgot that the house listings were on the table, this was the last thing that she needed right now. Slowly making his way back to the table he tried to think of how to word it as it had to be done in the correct way, "You, your sisters and your Mom aren't moving anywhere but I am looking for somewhere stable to stay so that you could all come over for sleepovers and things whilst things get worked out."

As he spoke she tried to process what he said but all her brain focussed on was the houses in her hand and it hurt because he had lied to her. She slid off her chair, "You lied to me." Angrily throwing the papers at him she ran up the stairs with tears streaming down her face and slammed her bedroom door shut behind her before she threw herself onto the bed clutching her pillow tightly as she cried.

Paul could only sit there and watch her as she ran off upstairs and winced as the door slammed shut behind her, "Good job Paul, just destroy your daughter why don't you." He took a deep breath before he followed her upstairs to make sure that she was okay.


	18. Chapter 18

After tidying the papers away and giving Aurora a moment to calm down Paul made his way upstairs, checking on the younger two he made sure that they were both still fast asleep before he knocked on Aurora's door, "Aurora?" He could just walk into her room but she was growing up and they were trying to show her that they respected her privacy.

He wanted to talk to her and to clear things up but he also recognised that it was late, she was already exhausted and it was probably not the right time to have this conversation with her. Unsure of how long he had been stood there waiting he knocked again but when he still didn't get an answer he opened the door and popped his head inside. She was laying on her side with her back to the door and he couldn't tell if she was awake or not but he didn't want to push his luck, "Goodnight, I love you baby girl." Shutting the door he made his way back downstairs to attempt to concentrate on his work again.

Once she heard him close her door again the little girl rolled over and wiped at her eyes, she wished her Mom was here, she would make everything better but unfortunately thoughts of Stephanie just made her cry again until she eventually cried herself to sleep.

The next morning when Paul woke the girls up he felt like he needed to wear a coat around Aurora as she was freezing him out completely. Between waking her up and helping them get washed and dressed he didn't think he had heard her say a single word to him.

Once Murphy and Vaughn were sat at the table he decided that it was best to talk to his oldest daughter, "Aurora, can I have a word with you please?"

Reluctantly she got up from her seat and followed him just outside of the kitchen, crossing her arms she just stood there not saying anything.

"What's going on Aurora? Why won't you talk to me? Are you sick and have no voice?"

She could pretend to be sick and try to get a day off school but she didn't want to worry her Mom, "I don't talk to liars."

Well at least she spoke so he knew that she wasn't sick but he couldn't let her get away with talking to him like that, "I am not a liar and I don't appreciate you calling me one. Can we talk about what is wrong?"

"I don't want to talk to you. I'm going to eat my breakfast."

He could only stand there and watch her walk away. She was so much like her Mom in every possible way that after more than ten years of dealing with Stephanie he knew when not to push and to leave her alone to cool down. There was nothing he could do now when he had to be at work and she needed to be at school soon but if things weren't better by the time he got home he was going to have to call in reinforcements as his daughter's happiness was at stake.

The rest of breakfast was done without Aurora saying a word to her Dad and Paul just let it slide, he waited until he had dropped the girls at school and was in his office before he sent the Nanny a text:

 _Aurora isn't herself, please just keep an eye on her but don't push her to talk as I will deal with it when I get home._

Once the text had been sent he tried to get on with his work, 'tried' was the key word as he just couldn't get the situation off his mind so it made it difficult to focus.

When the day was over and he arrived home it put a smile on his face when Murphy and Vaughn attacked him with the biggest hugs, it was exactly what the Doctor ordered today. He kissed both girls on the top of the head before they pulled away, "I love you both." Standing up straight he looked at his other daughter who was sat there with her arms folded, "Aurora?"

She didn't respond, she just sat there staring straight ahead, she was mad at him for lying to her and she was mad at herself for believing his lies.

He wanted to handle this himself but he wasn't sure how to at this point as she just wasn't responding to him. Paul made himself comfortable on the arm of the chair so that he could look at the girls, "I have been thinking about what we can do tomorrow and I thought that after dance we could go to the indoor trampoline place you like so much and then have a late lunch so you don't throw up everywhere."

Suddenly out of nowhere Aurora stood up, "You can't buy my love." Running off she went straight upstairs and slammed her bedroom door shut behind her.

As much as he wanted to do this himself he knew that he didn't have any other options but to make the call, "Please excuse me a moment."

The two youngest had stopped jumping with excitement and fell onto the couch, "I miss Mommy."

Stood in the kitchen he stared at his phone, he felt like a failure as a parent that he couldn't deal with this alone but as his thumb hovered over 'Call' he knew that he was doing the right thing by his daughter.

Paul left Aurora alone to cool down and focussed on Murphy and Vaughn as it was obvious that they had picked up on what was going on and he wanted to distract them from it, it was working until the doorbell rang, "I'll be back." He made sure that the girls were occupied before he left the room and went to open the front door relieved to see the person on the other side, "Thank you so much for coming over Linda, I didn't know who else to call."

The older woman smiled at him, "It's okay. I don't know if Stephanie had told you or not but I promised that I would be here for any of the girls if they needed me so it isn't a problem. Exactly how can I help?"

Motioning her inside there was only one way for her to get the full picture and that was to show her, "Why don't you say a quick hello to Murphy and Vaughn a minute whilst I get something to show you and then you can join me in the kitchen and I will explain."

Linda went to say hello to the girls making a promise to spend some time with them before she left before she went to join her current son-in-law in the kitchen, "So what happened exactly?"

Reluctantly he passed the house listings over to his Mother-in-law, "I spoke to Shane, he said it would look better to Stephanie if I had somewhere stable to live, that way it didn't look like I assumed that I would be home soon and I could also have the girls overnight and such. I picked those up at lunchtime yesterday and was looking at them after the girls were in bed last night, in between working anyway, but Aurora woke up and I forgot that they were on the table and she found them. She is mad at me because she thinks that I have lied to her, I assume about wanting to come home or something, and now she won't talk to me at all and with Stephanie not here I am worried about her and I think she needs somebody to talk to. I'm not asking you to go up there and tell her I am a good guy and she has it all wrong, I just need somebody to make sure that she is okay as she won't talk to me."

She flipped through the listings noticing that they all said that they were furnished properties, "Why are you looking for houses if you want to be home?"

"Because it is Stephanie and I know that it won't be an easy route home? That and she has still yet to have a conversation with me about our relationship and living in a hotel is killing me as there is no freedom. They're all mostly furnished rental properties which means that I won't have to buy anything so if we do manage to move past this and we do get back together then there won't be any extra furniture. If we talk and we can't move past this then I will look for somewhere permanent to live but until then I will rent somewhere."

Not taking sides she nodded her head, "I can explain that to Aurora. Just leave us alone and I will call you when she is ready to talk to you."

He knew that it was the right thing to do but it was so hard when he just wanted to be there and reaffirm that everything Linda said was the truth, "Okay. I will get the other two bathed and ready for bed."

The two separated with Linda immediately going upstairs to talk to her Granddaughter.

Aurora lay on her bed cuddling her favourite teddy bear, she just wanted her Mom to come home so that she could wrap her arms around her and tell her it would be okay. When there was a knock at the door she ignored it, she just wanted to be left alone and to stay here until her Mom came home.

After one knock went unanswered Linda knocked again but this time immediately pushed the door open and stepped inside, "Do you mind if I come in?"

Upon hearing her Grandma's voice the little girl practically flew off the bed and straight into her arms, "Grandma!" Clutching onto her tightly she couldn't stop the tears from falling.

As her eldest Granddaughter flew into her arms she could only hold her tightly as she felt the little girl's body shake with sobs as she cried and she felt her heart breaking.

She could only stand there holding her tightly as she cried because she was a little big for her to be able to carry over to the bed. As soon as she thought her tears may have subsided she raised her head so that her Granddaughter was looking at her, "Let's sit on the bed okay?"

Wiping at her eyes Aurora went back to her bed and took a seat, "I miss Mommy."

It was only day two and if she was already missing her this badly now she hated to think how badly she would miss her by the time she got back, "I'm sure you do but I bet that's not why you're this upset."

"Daddy lied to me."

Linda got comfortable on the bed beside her pleased that she was opening up to her so easily, "What did your Dad lie to you about?"

The teddy that she had been cuddling found its way back onto her lap and she hugged it tightly, "He told me that he loved me and Mommy and that he wanted to come home but he doesn't, Daddy's looking at new houses that are just for him."

"But what if your Dad isn't happy in the hotel and your Mom won't let him come home yet? What would you want him to do?"

She just wanted him to come home, she wanted her Mom to be happy again, "But if he has a new house he'll never come home and Mommy will never be happy and he will stop loving us so he'll stop coming over and then we'll be alone."

Her eyes widened at the giant leap that the little girl's logic had taken, "You think that if he doesn't live here or in a hotel then he will stop loving you all?"

"He'll have no reminders of who we are, of course he'll forget us."

She wrapped her arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, "Speaking as a parent it doesn't matter if you go one day, one week or one month without seeing your child you will never ever forget them. I think you need to talk to your Dad about this though, only he can tell you his reasons for looking for somewhere to rent."

Aurora was confused, "Rent?"

"Yes, it is where you basically borrow somebody else's house on a temporary basis, like when you stay in a hotel you borrow one of their rooms for a couple of nights. The difference between staying in a hotel and renting a house though is that when you rent a house you have a lot more privacy and a lot more control over things. Do you have any more questions you want to ask me or would you like to talk to your Dad and maybe put things right between you?"

She stared down at the floor not able to meet her gaze, "I guess."

It didn't take Einstein for Linda to see that the little girl was afraid of talking to her Dad so kissing the top of her head she stood up, "I will stay until you're all in bed so don't worry, I'm still here if you need me." As she walked out of the room she spotted Paul walking out of the bathroom, "Swap? You can talk to Aurora and I will help the girls get ready for bed."

He was surprised to hear that his daughter would talk to him but it was a good surprise, "Sure. There is no hurry for them to get out of the bath as it is Friday night. I should get in there though, thanks for this."

Aurora sat quietly on her bed just waiting for her Dad to come in and tell her off for being bad. When she heard the door shut behind him she braced herself for what she thought was to come.

The distance between the door and the bed felt like a mile for Paul, he just wanted to hug his daughter tightly and tell her how much he loved her but before he could he knew that they needed to discuss last night. Sitting down on the bed beside her he was struggling to find a way to start the conversation as he didn't want to make things worse between them. After a moments silence he decided to break the ice, "I should apologise for what you found last night, I'm sorry that you saw it like that."

Things changed from feeling guilty to being angry again for Aurora, "You weren't going to tell us that you don't plan on coming home?"

Wow, he surprised himself with how badly he was able to put his foot in his mouth. Quickly he had to undo the mess he was making of Linda trying to smooth things over, "I do plan on coming home, I swear on everything I hold dear in my life. I want to come home and be with my family but I'm miserable in the hotel and I don't think your Mom is ready for me to come home yet. I am looking at furnished properties to rent so that when your Mom hopefully is ready for me to come home I can hand back the keys and come home with no fuss. If I rent a house it means that you and your sisters can come and have sleepovers but it doesn't change my overall plans. I still plan to come home and be with you all because I love you all and nothing has changed that."

"So you didn't lie about wanting to come home?"

"Absolutely not. Your Mom would want to kill me if I lied to you about anything and anyway, you're all too smart, you'd see right through my lies. Would it make you feel better if you saw the house before I sign anything and you can see it's all furnished and it won't actually be mine?"

"I could even help you pick the house if you want, I don't mind."

Although he got the feeling that it would make her feel better if she helped pick the house he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do so would definitely get a second opinion from Linda first, "That is a really sweet offer, I will get back to you on that. Shall we see if your sisters are out of the bathroom and then you can have a bath and get ready for bed?"

Throwing her teddy off the bed she slid to stand on the floor, "They're slow, they'll be in it all night."

He didn't dare answer that so stifled his laughter and ready to usher her towards the door, "I'm pleading the fifth." Paul put his hand on his daughter's shoulder before she walked away, "One more thing before you leave though, can I get a hug please?"

For Paul it took what felt like forever before she turned around and wrapped her arms around him, "I love you."

Releasing the breath that he had been holding he held his daughter tightly kissing the top of her head, "I love you too."

It was true, he did love her, her sisters and their Mom. He may be back in the house right now but he knew that it wasn't going to last and that knowledge was just making him more determined to find a way to make it a permanent return home.


	19. Chapter 19

True to her word Linda stuck around until all of the girls were in bed and even waited until they were all fast asleep before she decided to leave.

As he closed the door behind them after leaving Aurora asleep in her room Paul decided that the best second opinion to get on the situation with his rental house would be Linda and not Stephanie, "Do you have ten minutes for me to pick your brain please? This isn't something I can approach Stephanie with."

She wasn't sure whether to be nervous or not as she had a feeling that it was connected to the girls, "I have the time, it won't kill Vince if I'm not there when he gets home."

The two of them made their way downstairs, "Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"No you're okay thanks Paul. Let's go and sit down and you can stop fretting then."

He couldn't help but chuckle, she always could tell when he was worried about something.

Once they were both settled in the lounge he decided to blurt out what was on his mind, "Aurora has said that didn't mind helping me pick the house and I don't know what to say to her. I told her that she can see the house before I sign anything so that she can be sure that it won't belong to me but I'm not sure about her actually helping to pick it."

There were many ways that this could go if they didn't play this right so she had to be certain to give him the right advice, "You have to live in the house so personally I would pick your top two houses so that no matter what was chosen you would be happy with it so then there is no harm in making Aurora feel like she has some control."

"You think this is about control?"

It was clear that it was about control, she was actually surprised that he hadn't seen it yet, "Absolutely Paul. Aurora feels like with you moving out and things being so uncertain between you and Steph that she has lost all control, she is trying to claw some control back by suggesting she helps pick the house because then she chooses how far away you are."

Now that she had explained it things were making sense, "I guess I can understand that. Should I just allow Aurora to help pick the house or include Murphy and Vaughn? I don't want to cause any arguments."

"Give them all the option to help you and if the younger two don't want to help then that's okay but at least you gave them the opportunity so they can't complain. Is that all?"

With that sorted he could now work, workout and then sleep before they went out tomorrow, "It is, thank you for everything, I couldn't have done this evening without you."

Linda knew that was the truth but only because Aurora in every single way was the spitting image of Stephanie when she was younger so she had been there and done that before, "It's okay, it's the experience of dealing with Stephanie that helped me out but I know you would have figured it out without me, you're a good Dad."

"Just not a good husband."

She was quick to put her hands up defence, "I did not say that, I am not getting in the middle of that. What happens between yourself and Stephanie is your business and I will not be getting in the middle of it. Am I upset that you have hurt Stephanie like you have? Absolutely I am. I thought that you were nothing like Vince so it does hurt that you did that but this is not about me or how I feel about what you did, my only role in this situation is to be there for my daughter and to give her my full support and to make sure that the girls come out of this as unscathed as possible."

Paul had always had so much love and respect for Linda so hearing her say that she was upset with him hurt a lot, "I'm sorry Linda."

"It isn't me that needs your apology, it is my daughter."

The way that she almost insinuated that he hadn't apologised irritated him, "I have apologised, I will apologise again if she will listen to what I am saying."

There was a definite tension in the air now so it was time for her to leave before things got worse, "I would assume that after being with Stephanie for so long you didn't think that it would be easy to get her to talk to you. You should have seen how long she froze Vince out when she found out about his affair so this situation is not going to be easy for her to get over, she will talk to you in her time, when that will be I don't know but don't give up on her okay?"

"Never, not just for the girls but because I really do love her, despite what my actions may have suggested."

It wasn't just about words but about actions so she would see how he backed his words up, "I should hope so. I had better get home to my husband before he either sends out a search party or burns the house down. You know where I am if you need me though."

"I do, thank you Linda." He hugged the older woman and showed her to the door before he went about his evening.

On Saturday morning Paul was just making sure that he had everything he needed before they left, once he was sure that he had everything it was time to leave so that they weren't late, "Come on girls, we need to go so that we aren't late."

The girls were quickly out of the house and jumped in the car as they all wanted to get to their dance class.

Sat in the back of the car Aurora stared out of the window as her Dad backed out of the garage and made his way out of the drive. As they pulled out on to the road she noticed a car sat outside their drive which was really weird, she had never seen that before because they lived in a gated community so everybody always parked on their own drive and so did their visitors. She was brought out of her thoughts when Murphy elbowed her in the ribs, "Ow! Murphy that was mean."

Taking a quick glance back in the mirror upon hearing his daughter's cry of pain he stared at his daughter, "Murphy say sorry to your sister please."

The little girl looked down sadly, "Sorry Rory. I thought you were ignoring me as you was mad."

"I was ignoring you?"

She could only watch as her little sister pouted and looked like somebody had just stolen her favourite teddy, "You don't love me?"

Immediately feeling an incredible wave of guilt she threw her arms around her sister as best she could and hugged her, "No Murphs, I love you lots. I was looking and thinking and didn't hear you, I'm sorry."

Despite the pulling of the seatbelt she cuddled into her sister, "Love you Rory."

Feeling left out of the entire thing Vaughn pulled on her seatbelt and tried to cuddle both of her sisters, "I loves you bowf."

As cute as the picture in his rear view mirror was it was incredibly dangerous, "Sit up please, you can hug when we get to dance."

When they pulled up at the dance studio and climbed out of the car Aurora was quickly surrounded by her younger sisters, "Ahh, what's happening?" As she glanced up she saw the same car as before and she was actually kind of scared, "Dad! Dad!"

The panic in his daughter's voice and on her face was enough to briefly stop his heart, "What's wrong?"

"Do you see that car over there?" As she pointed to the car it quickly sped off and now she felt stupid.

He did see a car briefly as it sped off, "The one that just left?"

She wrapped her arms around her sisters and held them tightly wanting to protect them. As the car had gone he couldn't do anything now but she was going to tell him even if he thought she was crazy, "I'll tell you after."

Paul didn't need to be Einstein to figure out that something was very wrong with his daughter but he just didn't know what it was, "Okay. Come on girls, let's get inside so that we aren't late."

When they went inside Paul signed the girls in and turned around to say something but he found only Aurora stood there, "What happened?"

The little girl pointed either side of her, "Friends."

"And yours?"

The truth was that she pushed her sisters to go and talk to their friends but she wasn't going to say that, "I'll see them now. Can I talk to you please?"

He was grateful that the foyer was quiet so ushered Aurora over to the corner, "Sure, what's wrong? Is it about that car you saw?"

Nervously she chewed on her lip, "Yes. Did you see it before it sped off?"

"I saw it as it sped off, it didn't drive well so I'm glad you were all safe on the sidewalk. What about it?"

"I saw it parked outside our house when we left, it was right outside so it must have followed us."

Fuck, somebody was following them? He needed to keep the girls safe but he also didn't want to alarm Aurora, "I'm sure it was a coincidence but to be safe I don't want any of you to go anywhere without me today okay? Unless I tell you that it is okay to go somewhere don't do it please, I will say the same to your sisters."

The little girl was confused, "So we're not safe?"

"Of course you're safe, you're with me. I will never ever ever let **anything** happen to you."

She wanted to believe him but she was scared, "Promise?"

Getting onto his knees so that he could look directly in her eyes, "I promise you that as long as I am alive nothing bad will ever happen to any of you."

It did make her feel better hearing him say that so she hugged him tightly, "Thank you Daddy."

He returned the hug and kissed the side of her head, "You're welcome."

When she pulled away from the hug and ran off to her friends he slowly stood up and removed his phone from his pocket to send a text message to the head of WWE security:

 _How soon today can I get somebody to do random patrols past my house? There may or may not be somebody following me & waiting outside the house._

After sending the text he slid his phone back into his pocket and went to talk to the other parents.

He was in the middle of a conversation with one of the other Mom's when his phone beeped, "Excuse me a second, I just need to make sure that isn't my wife reminding me that the girls have dance right now."

The other Mom laughed, "Go right ahead, we don't want her to worry."

Carefully lighting up the screen so nobody could see what was on it he was relieved that it wasn't from Stephanie:

 _Within the hour. Where are you and what do you need?_

 _I'm at dance with the girls, then I'm taking them to that indoor trampoline place & then to lunch before we go home. If somebody could swing by the house in the meantime to make sure it is safe I'd be grateful & maybe a couple of patrols later today. Just tell me what I owe & I'll pay it._

After quickly typing the response he put his phone back in his pocket, "It wasn't my wife, it was my sister checking up on me. Clearly nobody ever trusts the Dads."

"Well from personal experience I wouldn't trust the kid's Dad to remember everything without a little reminder or six. I'm sure that it is a man thing though, no offence."

"None taken."

Forty five minutes later and he received another text:

 _The house is fine, nobody is sat outside._

As he stared at the text he couldn't help but wonder if that meant that it was a coincidence or if the person was following them still or maybe they had been scared off. He was brought out of his thoughts when the kids classes finished and there was a hustle and bustle of kids everywhere.

Despite his concerns Paul didn't want to change the plans and disappoint the girls so he did take them trampolining and out to lunch but kept a very close eye on them not letting them out of his sight once.

Once they got home and were all safe inside he allowed himself to relax, "So what do you girls want to do now?"

"Letters to Mommy!"

His immediate thoughts were to whether Aurora would tell her about the car potentially following them, he hoped that she wouldn't but he couldn't force her not to, "Of course, how could I possibly think that you would want to do anything else? Let me get a couple more pens for you whilst you all get comfortable wherever you want to write them and then I will leave you to it."

After retrieving a couple of pens he walked into the kitchen to see them all sat around the table with their own little work areas. He put the pens down in the middle of the table and placed his phone down briefly as he moved the jar from the side to the middle of the table, "Help yourselves but no fighting over them. I will be in the lounge with my feet up when you're done here."

Paul had some work of his own that he could look at but right now he didn't feel like it as his mind was on the car from earlier so he just relaxed on the couch. He was just about to get up to check on the girls when the doorbell rang and it made him nervous, he wasn't expecting anybody but after the previous night he was worried that Vince and Linda were making an unannounced visit.

Pulling open the door he wasn't greeted by who he thought he would be, "What the hell are you doing here?"


	20. Chapter 20

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, I'm in the area and I thought we could catch up."

Paul anxiously looked behind him to make sure that the girls hadn't come out to see who was at the door before he stepped outside pulling the door to behind him, "And you didn't think that the unanswered calls and messages were an indication that I didn't want to see you again Kacey? How about the part where the last time we spoke I told you that we were over and I had made a mistake and didn't want anything more to do with you?"

Reaching out she placed her hand on his arm but he quickly jerked it away, "Paul please, we both know that what we have is special and that shouldn't just be thrown away."

"For the love of God Kacey, what we had was nothing special, what we had was simply an excuse for me to get away from things. As harsh as it sounds it is the truth, I love my wife to death and I have completely ruined my marriage with a stupid mistake but I am not going to throw it all away for something with you that I know will not last."

Immediately her eyes welled up with tears, "Paul please, I know that you don't mean that."

He didn't understand why she couldn't understand that he was done, "Except I do Kacey. We're done, over, finished, no more, it will never happen again. The sooner that you accept the fact that we are completely over the happier you will be."

Suddenly the door opened behind him and Murphy stood there with his cell phone in hand, "Your phone was ringing Daddy."

The last thing he needed was for any of his daughters to see him with another woman but he was slightly relieved that it wasn't Aurora. As he took his phone from the little girl he plastered a smile on his face, "Thank you Princess. I'll be back in in a minute so why don't you go back to your sisters."

Kacey smiled down at the little girl, "Hello sweetie, it's so nice to meet you."

There was something about the woman that Murphy did not like so she ignored her, "Okay Daddy. Don't be too long 'cos Vaughny's hungry."

Trust his daughter to lighten the mood when his blood pressure was rising and steam was beginning to come out of his ears. He couldn't help but laugh softly and bend down to kiss the top of her head, "Don't worry, I will be back in before she attempts to eat you." Tickling his daughter he smiled as she screamed with laughter and quickly ran away from him.

Once his daughter was safely back in the kitchen the smile fell from his face and he turned back to the unwelcome visitor, "And now you are leaving before I call the cops and you have to explain why you are hanging around when I have asked you to leave."

"Seriously Paul, it doesn't have to be like this. All you had to say is that you're watching your kids this weekend and I would have left you alone."

Suddenly a gravelly voice could be heard, "Can I help you lady?"

Kacey turned around and came face to chest with a bulky and tall guy, "Do you live here? No, so fuck off as I am already talking to the home owner."

It was almost like he had appeared out of thin air but Paul couldn't have been happier to see Xavier, "Excuse you but you don't have any control over who I invite here. The only person leaving right now is you so just leave before he forces you to leave."

She quickly looked between the two men and decided better of arguing with him so stormed off down the drive.

Xavier's eyes stayed trained on her as she walked down the drive, "I will make sure that she is gone for you."

The timing of his appearance was curious and left Paul with many questions, "Before you leave. How did you know to come to the door now and not just do a drive by?"

"I drove by about twenty minutes ago and saw a car sat outside the house, I came back again ten minutes ago and it was still there so I called Anton who tried calling you but you didn't answer, as you didn't answer the phone he said to be on the safe side to just come and knock the door to check that everything was okay."

"Sorry that I missed the call, I'd left my phone inside. I'm so glad that you came though, she wasn't taking 'no' for an answer and I was about to lose my shit. I need to get back to the girls though but if you could ask Anton to continue patrols for the rest of today I'd be grateful thanks, just to be certain that it was her and she does leave."

"No problem. Have a good day and any problems give Anton a call and I'll station myself here, I have nothing else to do today as my wife and kids are doing something with the in-laws that I wasn't needed for so a bit of extra money isn't going to do any harm."

Paul had to force a smile as he missed his wife, he missed being a family, he was stressed about everything and this was the last thing he needed, "Thanks, I appreciate it."

Once the other man walked away Paul shut the door and went back to his girls, "I'm sorry about that. So have you finished with your letters as a little birdie said somebody was hungry, I can't see how but I guess you're growing girls so I shouldn't complain."

The guilt Stephanie was feeling at being away from the girls was torture, she had spoken to her Mom on Saturday and she said that she had been to see the girls on Friday and when she left they were all happy and fast asleep so that had to be a good sign that Paul wasn't doing a bad job. She didn't doubt that he would do a good job, she was just worried how things would go, especially with Aurora. Tomorrow she got to go home and see her babies and she couldn't wait, nothing beat holding them in her arms.

It was Friday morning and Paul had stripped the sheets off the bed whilst the girls were eating breakfast and was currently attempting to put them in the laundry when Aurora appeared in the doorway, "What's wrong Rory? If your sisters are playing up I'll put them in time out as I don't have time for the drama."

A soft giggle passed her lips as he looked so frazzled, "I came to say that I put the dishes in the dishwasher and Murphy put the spoons and stuff in, Vaughn was in charge of tidying the table. You was busy, I thought we'd help."

Finally finding the right setting he pressed the button and breathed a sigh of relief as the machine came to life before he turned to his daughter, "You really didn't have to do that."

"You really want Mommy to think you did a good job so you're running around like mad."

"I don't want her to think I did a good job, I need her to know that I did a good job and that I can still handle the three of you and not burn the house down." There was so much more to it than that but it wasn't a conversation to be had with his daughter, "Come on though, we need to get your teeth cleaned."

Somehow in the time that he had before they had to leave Paul had managed to get all of his luggage packed and stored in the guest room so when he came back at lunch all he had to do was make the bed and put the sheets in the dryer.

"When we see you 'gain?" They were just about to walk out of the door when Vaughn spoke up stopping everybody in their tracks. This conversation had not been on the table at all so all of the girls were interested to see what he had to say.

"Tonight?" He wasn't sure when he was leaving as he knew what airlines were like and how many delays you could have, "Your Mom can't guarantee that she will get in on time and I need to pick up my stuff anyway.

"Oh."

If he didn't know better he would have said that they wanted him gone but surely they didn't? Just thinking about it was beginning to give him a headache, "You don't want me to leave right now do you?"

"No!"

Murphy and Vaughn had attached themselves to his legs and it broke his heart, "Okay good, I was beginning to think that you were sick of the sight of me."

"Never ever ever Daddy."

Bending down he kissed both girls on the top of the head, "That's good. Come on, let's get going as the sooner you go to school the sooner you get to come home and the sooner you see Mommy again."

The day had been long and stressful with plane delays, cranky passengers and rude and unhelpful staff so when the cab pulled into the driveway at home she had never been happier to see her home. She should have been home more than two hours ago, she was supposed to be surprising the girls when they got home from school but that hadn't happened so now she had to settle for them hopefully tackling her as she walked through the door.

Paying the cab driver she made her way to the front door and as quietly as possible she walked inside and placed her suitcase by the stairs and dropped her purse on top of it before she made her way through to the kitchen where they were probably having dinner, "This house looks so familiar."

Squeals of delight so high pitched that they could break windows soon filled the kitchen along with the scraping of chairs across the floor before they all ran towards her and wrapped their arms tightly around her, "Missed you Mommy."

She was so grateful that she had immediately gotten down on to her knees in preparation for the hugs as this was exactly what she needed. Boy had she missed them, as she held them all in her arms she realised that she never wanted to do that again, she couldn't be apart from them for an entire week any more, not now that her and Paul were apart, he had somehow made it bearable last time when they would speak on the phone so often and she felt like she had missed nothing but as she knelt there holding them all she felt like so much had changed and she hated it. Selfishly she wanted to never let go but that wasn't possible as they had been eating, "You should go back and finish your dinner, we can cuddle and talk when you're done."

Her arms were soon empty as they were all quick to return to the table so that they could get back to the cuddles. Climbing to her feet she immediately headed for the kettle to make herself a cup of coffee but a mug of it was placed in front of her by the Nanny, "You looked like you needed some coffee so I made it when you were hugging the girls."

It may have been over nine years that Rae had been a part of their family but she still amazed her every day, "Thank you Rae, I appreciate this. So how have things been? I want honesty please."

How did she answer her without feeling like she was pitting one parent against the other or that she was ratting one out? It was an incredibly difficult situation to be in when she didn't actually know what was going on, "Everything has been good, the girls have all been so well behaved but you wouldn't expect to hear anything less would you?"

"And Paul?" She knew that she shouldn't ask but she needed to know that he had been there and had been fully involved.

"He's been great, he's been home the normal time or earlier every night and the only surprise they have had is an empty jar."

An empty jar? What the hell was that man playing at? The things that were running through her mind were many and varied but she was brought out of her thoughts when Murphy shouted, "Done."

"Good girl, I think. Just sit nicely and wait for your sisters please."

No more than ten minutes later and all three girls had finished their dinner but instead of helping to tidy they were all being ushered out of the kitchen by Rae, "Go and sit down and catch up, I can handle this tonight."

Not one to argue the girls were soon pulling their Mom towards the lounge.

When Paul returned home from work he parked outside the front door so went through the front door and immediately knew that Stephanie was home as there was her suitcase placed at the bottom of the stairs. He didn't want to make things awkward so quietly headed up the stairs with her suitcase in hand to put it in the bedroom for her before he took his things down to pack his car again ready to leave.

Once he had packed his car ready to leave he walked back inside and shut the door, "I'm leaving girls."

The two younger girls looked at Stephanie in shock but she was as surprised by his announcement as they were, she didn't even know that he had gotten home and she certainly hadn't told him to get out, "I haven't said anything."

When they didn't come out to him he made his way into the lounge and smiled when he saw Vaughn on Stephanie's lap and Murphy and Aurora cuddled in to either side of her, "Can I at least get a hug please?"

Vaughn slid off Stephanie's lap and ran over to her Dad and wrapped her arms around him, "Why you go?"

As it was just his youngest daughter he picked her up and held her in his arms, "Because your Mom's home now and after a week of not seeing you I am pretty sure she wants to spend as much time with you as possible. I will see you soon though but I will call every night."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, "No go." Having had him back at home again she didn't want him to leave.

"I have to." If he had a choice in the matter he wouldn't leave but he didn't so before he got on Stephanie's bad side he was going to leave.

She wanted him to leave because she selfishly wanted the girls all to herself but she didn't want him to go if the girls were just going to be sad about him leaving.

Carefully carrying his daughter over to the couch he perched himself on the arm of the chair as he looked at his oldest two not wanting to move away from their Mom, "Don't you think it is fair that I let your Mom have all of your love and attention when she has had none for a whole week? In parent terms that feels like about ten years." He may have been stretching the truth a little but they seemed to buy it and that was all that mattered.

"Mommy can I give Daddy a hug before he goes or will that be not fair?"

"Always. I will never stop you hugging your Dad."

Placing Vaughn on the seat beside him he opened his arms to Murphy and hugged her tightly before he moved to hug Aurora, he couldn't help but smile when she didn't pull away, she just hugged him back.

Once he had hugged and kissed all of his daughter's he stood up, "Alright so I need to get going but I just want a word with Mommy first."

"I will be back in a minute, just sit quietly please." She followed him out of the lounge and through to the kitchen watching as he got something from the side and turned back to face her.

"I don't know if the girls will mention this but as it is a glass jar I want to so that you can be aware. In here are letters that the girls have written to you throughout your trip, I thought it was the best way for them to remain connected to you when you were apart. I have no idea what any of them say but they are here for you to read."

"Thanks, I appreciate this. Is there anything that you need to tell me about the time I was away?" If she was going to come face to face with some hard truths about her time apart she wanted to be prepared.

"There is one thing but I am not sure that you want to discuss it now." He needed to tell her about the house, he couldn't keep it from her.

Nothing made you more suspicious than when somebody said they weren't sure that you wanted to discuss it then, "Tell me the short version and we will discuss it tomorrow or at some point."

Out of a small sense of fear he placed the jar on the counter behind him before he tried to think of the best way to word it. After a few moments he found the words in his head, "Aurora and I had a small falling out when she found the fully furnished houses I was looking at potentially renting, we quickly worked it out and now she likes me again."

Houses? Rent? He fell out with Aurora? So many questions but none of them she wanted answers to tonight, "I see. We will discuss this once I have spent time with the girls and settled in but thank you for your honesty."

"You're welcome." Well he thought so anyway, the truth was that he couldn't really tell. "Umm so I'm going to leave but I changed your sheets for you so that you have a nice fresh bed to fall in to tonight. Have a good weekend with the girls and I'll call them tomorrow evening."

Stephanie could only stand and watch as he walked out of the kitchen and out of the house, she was so numb and confused. Brought back to earth by the slamming of the front door and the shouts from the girls for her to join them again she pushed all other thoughts to the back of her mind and went to enjoy her time with them.


	21. Chapter 21

This is for **SMHHHFan** , I hope that you enjoy it and thanks for the nudge but I apologise to everybody for the delay.

* * *

The bedtimes went out of the window for one night when Stephanie returned home, when the girls didn't want to go to bed and she was really enjoying catching up with them it seemed cruel to put an end to it when tomorrow was Saturday and they didn't have to be up early for school.

After giving the girls a bath they had all gotten into their pyjamas and were cuddled on the couch with a movie playing on the television, none of them could be bothered with their sleeping bags so they just had a blanket covering them as they snuggled together with Aurora one side of her and Vaughn practically on her lap as Murphy tried to squeeze herself right next to her Mom.

By the time the movie was over Vaughn and Murphy were both asleep and Aurora was just sleepy. "I'm going to go and put your sisters to bed but you should get to bed too, you look exhausted."

The little girl yawned and pushed herself off her Mom allowing her to move so she could take her youngest sister who was on her lap to bed.

When she returned from putting Vaughn to bed she smiled at the way one daughter was asleep and the other was barely keeping her eyes open, "Come on you, walk with me whilst I put your sister to bed as you need to get to bed too."

Reluctantly Aurora got up from her seat on the couch and followed her Mom to her little sister's room and waited whilst she put her to bed, she wanted her Mom to tuck her in like she had her sisters.

As soon as Murphy was safely in her bed Stephanie turned to see her eldest barely on her feet so walked closer to her and picked her up, "Boy am I glad that I lift weights, you're like a feather."

A soft giggle passed the little girl's lips as her head dropped to her Mom's shoulder and she wrapped her legs around her waist, "Love you Mommy."

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head she felt her heart swell with love, "I love you too baby girl." Luckily it was only a short distance from Murphy's room to Aurora's so she was soon able to lay the now sleeping girl down in her bed covering her over with her blanket, "Sleep well." With a final kiss to the top of her head she left the room pulling the door shut behind her.

Now that all of the girls were in bed asleep it was time for her to relax and enjoy being home again. Making her way back downstairs she went straight to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. With glass in hand she turned to go back to the lounge but her eyes caught the jar on the counter and curiosity got the best of her, picking up the jar she took it over to the table and sat down to begin reading.

In an attempt to read the letters somewhat in order she made a tunnel through to the bottom of the jar and began plucking the letters one by one from there.

It was making her sad to read about what the girls had done with Paul, not because they hadn't had fun but because she hadn't been there to enjoy it with them. When she pulled out the next folded piece of paper she immediately noticed the tear stains on it and her stomach clenched, one of her babies had been crying when they wrote this letter, immediately getting up she went to pour herself another glass of wine, she wasn't drunk or even buzzed enough to be able to handle that tonight.

Downing her second glass of wine she poured herself a third before she returned to the table. Having not eaten anything since she had a snack between flights around lunchtime she was feeling the alcohol running through her veins giving her the beginning feelings of being drunk. Now that she was somewhat prepared for whatever was written she unfolded the paper and began to read:

 _I HATE DADDY! He doesn't love us, he told me he wants to come home but he's getting a new home and he will forget us and we'll be all alone._

 _Come home Mommy, I miss you._

Her hand immediately reached for the glass of wine and she quickly downed it, she was far too sober to adequately handle the emotions that she was feeling. Her now empty glass got placed on the table beside the jar before she neatly placed the letter on top of the pile of letters that she had already read.

She took a deep breath before she reached in for another letter, much to her relief it was far happier and it took her thoughts away from the fact that he was apparently buying a getting house. Those thoughts were not thoughts she wanted to deal with tonight which is why she had happily locked away her memory of Paul mentioning it earlier. The thought of leaving the rest of the letters to read until the following day did cross her mind but ultimately it was pushed to the side as she reached in for the next letter.

 _Dear Mommy,_

 _I like Daddy a little more now. Gramma and Daddy promised me that he is only borrowing the house and he said I can help pick it too. I'm going to make him come home where he belongs Mommy, we need Daddy and I know you miss him._

 _Love,_

 _Rory_

Great, as if she wasn't feeling shit enough as it was her daughter had to point out how badly she had hidden her feelings from them. Yes she did miss her husband, she didn't know what he had done, what he wanted or how much he missed her so they really needed to talk about it to come to a decision about where their marriage went from here. Tomorrow she could think about agreeing a time with Paul to talk, tonight she was going to hopefully enjoy some happy letters from her daughters with the knowledge that they are safely tucked up in bed above her.

She took a moment to enjoy the silence and being in her own home again before she pulled out another letter to read. After reading two more letters she pulled out a third and the last sentence caught her eye ' _Daddy said Vaughn would eat me_ ', why the hell would Paul say that? This letter definitely had the makings to be her favourite letter so she was eager to read it.

 _I miss you lots and lots Mommy._

 _Today Daddy took us to dance and then we went to the bouncy place and then we went to my favouritest place to eat. Daddy didn't let us go anywhere without him, he was mean._

Her interest was piqued by her saying that she wasn't allowed to go anywhere without him but she did think that it was kind of cute that she thought he was mean for doing that, however it wouldn't stop her from asking him about it as neither of them were ever that overprotective with the girls.

 _When we came home Daddy left his phone on the table and it rings so I takes it to him at the door, he was talking to a strange lady who called me sweetie, I didn't likes her._

Angrily swiping the jar and her glass off the table she ignored the items as they smashed upon impact on the tile floor. How could he possibly bring a woman here when he promised that he wouldn't?

Her eyes took in the sight of the shattered glass and paper scattered on the floor so she stood up but instead of moving to get a dustpan and brush to clean it up she opened the fridge door and pulled out the bottle of wine, removing the top she put the bottle to her lips and drank.

Taking the bottle back to the table she sat down and picked the letter back up to read again. With letter in one hand and wine bottle in the other she was constantly taking a swig from the bottle as she repeatedly read the letter until there was no wine left in the bottle. Her eyes were heavy now so she just rested her head on the table for a minute.

Paul had underestimated how depressing it would be checking back into a hotel after a week away. When he reached his room he dropped all but one of his bags on the floor and placed the remaining bag on the bed, opening the bag he pulled out the house listings before he dropped the bag onto the floor and then collapsed on the bed to begin looking through the listings to pick out his favourites.

The sun was shining through the window directly on Stephanie's face wringing a moan from her throat. Blindly trying to cover her eyes the sun was way too bright for her to handle with the worst hangover she had ever had in her life.

She didn't know what time it was but she knew that there was no way she could or should drive the girls to dance class so through her bleary eyes she managed to knock over the empty bottle of wine as she grabbed at her phone to send a text.

 _I need you to take the girls to dance for 10 please, I'm not feeling well._

Looking at the time on her phone the girls would be up soon so she reluctantly climbed to her feet to make her way upstairs to take some painkillers and hopefully shower before they woke up.

After taking painkillers she had a long shower eventually walking back into the bedroom dressed only in a towel when she heard the doorbell ring, making her way out of her room she headed downstairs. Her grip on the towel around her body tightened as she slowly opened the door, a groan passed her lips when she saw her Mom stood there, "What are you doing here? I thought you wouldn't be here until half past nine."

When the door opened and Linda was able to see her daughter she had her doubts that she was sick as she didn't look it, "Well I thought as you weren't feeling well I would take the load off of you and get the girls ready for dance so that you could go back to bed for a hour. I was already up and around as I couldn't sleep."

"Um okay, thanks. You'd better come in then."

Suddenly there was a stampede of feet down the stairs as the girls ran downstairs to greet their Grandma but despite the calls of excitement Linda noticed the way that Stephanie winced at all of the noise. "Come on girls, let's get you breakfast and then you can wash and get dressed for the day."

"No!" It was only when her Mom mentioned breakfast that she remembered the state that the kitchen was in, "I'll get it."

Waving her hand in dismissal at her daughter she just walked past her and went straight towards the kitchen but stopped in the doorway when she saw all of the glass on the floor, "On second thoughts. Girls why don't you go and sit in the den and watch some television and I will bring you some breakfast in there."

Once the girls were out of danger Linda walked into the kitchen and went straight for the dustpan and brush. With dustpan and brush in hand she walked past the table and noticed the empty bottle of wine and the stack of letters, "Do I even want to ask what happened here?"

"I tripped late last night and dropped the jar on the floor and it smashed, I figured I would clean it up this morning before the girls got up but wasn't feeling well."

"And then you tell me the truth. There is a wine glass among the shards on the floor and there is an empty bottle of wine on the table. Something tells me that you're not sick, you have a major hangover. Am I right or am I wrong?" You weren't a Mother for forty years without learning a lot about your children and she certainly knew when she was being lied to.

Stephanie was way too tired and her head hurt far too much to continue to lie, "You're right but it wasn't my fault, I was drowning my anger in alcohol instead of arguing with Paul."

"Let me clean this up and feed the girls and we will talk over strong black coffee." Linda shooed her daughter out of the room to get dressed so that she could clean the mess that was the kitchen in peace.

Fifteen minutes, a lot of glass in the trash and a wine bottle in the recycling later and the girls were eating toast in front of cartoons and Stephanie was sat at the kitchen table waiting to be shouted at.

"So what happened?" After she placed a mug of coffee in front of Stephanie she sat down at the table with her own coffee.

Her hands wrapped around the mug and she stared down at the dark liquid contained within it, this was not going to be fun at all especially as she had a killer hangover.

"Come on Steph, I don't have all day."

"He brought a woman here." She sighed heavily before lifting the mug to her lips and taking a sip of the steaming hot liquid, "One of the letters from Murphy said that there was a strange lady here and she didn't like her."

It didn't sound great but Linda didn't know why she was condemning Paul over it as it couldn't have been purely innocent, "So he is guilty without a fair trial? You know that it could have been completely innocent and the woman could have dropped by for many reasons and they may not be because they are his latest bit on the side."

"Do you think he has another woman on the side?"

This was what was at the bottom of all of the problems, she just didn't know so thought the worst. "You can't keep doing this to yourself Steph. You can't keep yourself in the dark and as a result keep torturing yourself. It isn't even about the girls at this point, you **really** need to talk to Paul and get it all out in the open, you're slowly driving yourself mad not knowing anything."

"I know." She hated that her Mom was right but if this hangover showed her anything it was that she needed to just get the conversation with Paul over with and decide where their marriage went from there. She couldn't live her life thinking that every single woman he spoke to he was sleeping with, she deserved more than that and ultimately it would destroy her and where would that leave the girls.

Linda was definitely not expecting for her to agree as easily as that so she decided to push her luck a little, "Maybe strike whilst the iron is hot, so to speak. Why don't I take the girls to dance and then keep them until tomorrow? It gives you time to talk to Paul and to get over your hangover."

No, no, no, no, no, there was no way that she could talk to him today, it was too soon and she hadn't had enough time to prepare.

"You can do it Steph." Her daughter looked petrified and that broke Linda's heart, it was only a conversation with her husband, the man that she loved more than any other, but she looked like she was facing a judge.

"Can I? Do you have any idea how serious this talk is? I could go from married to single in a split second, I could go from a family to a single parent in the blink of an eye, I could destroy my children all with one decision."

"And if you don't have that conversation and make that decision you will slowly destroy everything about yourself."

This was not the kind of decision she should be making with a hangover, it was too serious, "Maybe tomorrow when I don't have a hangover."

"Or maybe tomorrow you will have another hangover or there will be another excuse. Bite the bullet, have something to eat and call him over later, you will have all of the time in the world."

Suddenly like the Pied Piper Aurora came walking through the kitchen door carrying the plates with her sisters following behind her, "All done."

Standing up Linda moved to take the plates from the little girl, "Good girls. Now we need to get you washed and ready for dance."

Sat there staring at her daughters she made a decision, "Don't forget packing for overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's."

The squeal of delight that left the girl's lips at that news caused Stephanie to wince, "If you don't want to go then you don't have to."

"We go, we go."

The look on Vaughn's face was one of annoyance at the thought of it being taken away from them was one Stephanie wished that she could take a picture of, "Well if you are sure that it is what you want. Come on and let's get you ready."

Both Vaughn and Aurora were soon at Stephanie's sides holding her hand as they all left the kitchen but her mind wasn't on them, her mind was on the inevitable conversation with Paul, by the time the weekend was over her marriage could be too and that scared her more than she had ever been scared before.


	22. Chapter 22

I am so sorry for the delay posting this, I promise I will try not to neglect it so much again.

* * *

 _Do you want to come over about 2?_

Her thumb hovered over 'Send' briefly before she quickly pressed it before she lost her bottle and threw the phone down beside her.

The girls had long since gone with her Mom so that she could take them to dance, only after lots of hugs and kisses and a promise of a cookie baking session when they got home on Sunday though. Once the girls had left she went to get herself some breakfast because she had promised her Mom that she would and she wasn't in the mood for twenty texts from her Mom telling her to eat.

When she had eaten she tidied up the dishes and then the kitchen until she decided that she really couldn't put off texting him and that's where she was now.

Sat on the couch she glanced at her phone, would he say yes? She hadn't specifically said that she wanted him to come over to talk so when he arrived and realised that the girls weren't there would he be mad and think that she had gotten him there under false pretences? Would he be upset that she hadn't given him time to rehearse what he wanted to say? There were so many questions going around in her mind that she felt like it was going to explode so she needed to take her mind off it all with a good gym session.

Paul was finding it so much easier to get paperwork done at the hotel but it was Saturday, he shouldn't even be doing paperwork, he should be spending the day with his family but nope, here he was sat all alone with only paperwork for company.

When his phone beeped it was welcome distraction from all things WWE so he turned his attention to it to see exactly who it was that had texted him. Seeing his wife's name on the screen was a surprise as she was the last person that he expected to hear from this weekend. When he read the text he was even more surprised, she was willingly giving up some of her only free time with the girls for the next week to include him? It didn't make a whole lot of sense to him but he wasn't going to turn it down if she was serious:

 _If you are sure that you don't mind I will be there on the dot._

He placed his phone back on the desk and stood up, he needed to shower and change, basketball shorts and an old shirt would not do if he was going to not look like a mess when he turned up at the house.

The house was already clean and tidy but even still she found herself cleaning and tidying whilst she waited for him. She hadn't eaten since breakfast, she had made herself a sandwich but it sat on the kitchen table untouched as she couldn't face it.

When the doorbell rang Stephanie froze, this was really happening and her world may begin again or end forever in the next few hours. Leaving the duster on the side she made her way towards the front door and forced a smile before she pulled it open, "Hi, come in."

Immediately he saw her he knew that something was off, he didn't know if the girls were playing up and she was frazzled or if something else was going on but things definitely weren't right. "Thanks." As he walked past her and in to the house he noticed that the house was silent, there was no television, there was no bickering, no laughter, no sound at all and that put him on edge, "Where are the girls?"

"With my Mom, or well probably my parents at this point."

"Uh, okay. Why did you invite me over here then?"

"To talk." She shut the door effectively locking him inside the house so he couldn't run away from this conversation.

His body stiffened at the mention of talking, he thought that he would have at least some notice of her wanting to talk so that he could prepare himself, he wasn't expecting this to happen.

Seeing his reaction told her that she had made the right decision effectively springing it on him and giving him no time to prepare, she wanted the real truth and not the truth he wanted her to know. "Would you like a drink?"

"Are we talking alcohol because I really could go for some of that right now." There was no point hiding from her how he felt because she knew him well enough to see right through it when it came to his emotions.

"Take a seat in the lounge and I will get a couple of waters, I want you sober for this conversation." She couldn't and wouldn't let him drink because it would spiral out of control and she wouldn't know if what he was saying the truth or not and there was no way she was putting herself through this a second time for him to be sober.

The space apart allowed the two of them to gather their thoughts although for Paul it was just a moment to stop his brain from panicking about what he was going to tell her.

When she walked into the kitchen Stephanie leaned on the fridge and took a deep breath, her heart was beating almost out of her chest and she felt like she was going to collapse.

Earlier when she had thought about it she clearly hadn't through it through properly because if she had she would be confident and wouldn't feel like this. Her first thoughts had been not to tell him that the girls weren't there and that she wanted to talk because then he wouldn't have time to prepare answers to her questions so that she could get honest answers but now it was here and he was here and knew what she wanted he seemed freaked out so maybe she wouldn't get them either. She was beginning to think that talking to him was as bad an idea as not talking to him.

Taking a deep breath she opened the fridge and retrieved two waters and then made her way back to the lounge, she couldn't put this off forever.

Upon entering the lounge Paul noticed how clean it was, the house was only this spotlessly clean when his wife was worried about something, it was her way of dealing with the anxiety. He couldn't help but wonder exactly why she was so worried, exactly what was going on in her head? Whilst he waited for her to return he took a seat in the chair and desperately tried to think of a way to explain it all that wouldn't result in divorce.

It was hard to believe that the two of them were home alone but yet the mood in the house was so dark, under normal circumstances it would be light and playful or heavy with the sexual tension around them but now it was nothing like that. Stephanie found herself missing all of him but she couldn't afford to dwell on that otherwise nothing would be achieved and her Mom taking the girls would have been pointless.

"Here's your water." Placing both bottles on the table she took a seat on the couch and moved around until she got comfortable.

There was so much that she wanted to ask him but there was so much that she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to know, maybe if she started off simply she could build up to the worst parts. "So what is this about you and Aurora falling out over a house?"

The question came straight from left field as he thought that she was going to ask about his affair so it took a moment for him to actually get his brain to change gears. "I can't live in a hotel for much longer, it is slowly driving me insane so I thought that I would rent a fully furnished house so that the girls can stay over at the weekend if they want and so that I can eat whatever I want whenever the hell I choose to. I had picked up some listings at lunch and the girls were in bed asleep so I had put them on the table whilst I did some work with the plan being to look at them when I took a break but Aurora woke up and came downstairs and whilst I was getting something from the fridge she looked at them. She misunderstood what they were for and thought everybody was moving and when I said they were just for me she got really mad and wouldn't let me explain. I ended up having to get your Mom in to be neutral mediator to explain it to Aurora and with her help we sorted it out. Aurora wants to help pick what house I rent but I thought I would get it down to two and then let all of the girls see them and if they wanted to help pick they could."

The first thing that hit her was that her Mom had lied to her, she hadn't told her that there had been any problems at all and that hurt but she was surprised by how much more it hurt to find out that he was planning to rent somewhere to live. Was he giving up on them already? Had she taken too long to talk to him and he wasn't interested in saving their marriage? Had he not been interested in saving their marriage at all?

"Don't you want to save our marriage?" She surprised herself by what came out of her mouth, she didn't mean to blurt that out but it just happened.

"If I didn't want to save our marriage I would be looking at buying somewhere and not renting. I realise that fixing this won't be easy or quick so I would prefer to be somewhere more comfortable than a hotel and to be able to take the girls off you for a few days so that you can have some space too."

Her blood immediately started to boil and she felt the urge to walk out grow strong, "I don't need fucking space from my daughters. I love them, they are my world and some days they are the only things that are keeping me going."

Rubbing his temples Paul couldn't help but sigh heavily, "That is not what I meant Stephanie. I know exactly how much you love the girls and I wouldn't begin to suggest otherwise. I only meant that it might be good for you on occasion to have a night to yourself so that you can relax. I was suggesting it out of love for you and nothing else."

"Don't say that word, you don't even know what the hell it means any more." She wanted to believe it when he said that he loved her but she knew better than that because his behaviour had shown her that, or maybe she had just cut herself off emotionally to protect her heart and she wasn't seeing the truth.

It was becoming pretty clear that his wife figuratively was emotionally on an island in the middle of the ocean and he needed to find a boat and make his way out to her. "Steph I know that I haven't necessarily shown you that I love you over recent months but I can promise you that I really do."

She had planned to start it slow and build up to talk about his affair but things had escalated and now she just wanted to hit out and hurt him like he had hurt her. "Sure, you love me so much that despite the rules that I set that stated that you weren't to bring any women around the house you did just that and somehow your daughter even met her and you allowed your whore to call my daughter 'sweetie'. Were you deliberately testing things to see exactly how much you could get away with? Or maybe you had begged Murphy not to tell me about the visit and she disobeyed you?"

"That isn't entirely true." He had hoped that he would have been able to tell his wife about the visit so that she could know the entire truth and not just the small part that Murphy knew because he knew this would happen, it was understandable but it still frustrated him as he was already fighting a losing battle with her.

"I did not invite her here, I did not want her here, I have now gone as far as taking a restraining order out against her to prevent her coming anywhere near you or the girls. I don't know how she got the address, I suspect she had followed me home from work because I know she followed us when we went out on Saturday but I made sure the girls were protected. I paid out of my pocket to have Anton arrange for somebody to drive by the house all day and then first thing Monday I arranged the restraining order around me and around this house. I swear to you that I didn't invite her here, I didn't want her here, hell you can speak to Xavier and he will tell you how much I didn't want her here and how much she thought she deserved to be here. I will even let you go through my phone and you can see how much I have spoken to her recently as it will prove that I'm not speaking to her at all."

With every part of her she wanted to believe that he hadn't invited her around and that he wasn't having any contact with her but she simply found herself unable to trust him, that had been completely destroyed. "You could have always deleted the texts and call log to her so there isn't any point in me looking."

Irritated that she thought so lowly of him he pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it going straight for the messages from Kacey and then held the phone out to his estranged wife, "There are all of the messages from Kacey since I told her that it was over."

It took a moment for Stephanie to take the phone but when she did she unlocked the phone and began to read the messages.

 _Call me Paul._

 _I miss you._

 _I'll be in town, call me._

There were a few more messages like that with none having any replies from him but the very last message in the thread was a reply from him:

 _Leave me alone, just leave me the fuck alone._

Once she was done reading the messages she locked the phone and placed it on the coffee table, "Why don't you do yourself a favour and block her number?"

"I thought that she would just go away if I ignored her for long enough but then when I had to take the restraining order out I meant to but I just got distracted by the girls and work that I forgot." Snatching his phone from the coffee table there was no time like the present and he proceeded to block Kacey's number and then delete the chain of messages, "And she's gone. I have blocked her number and deleted the messages. What more do you want from me?"

"To have never slept with her in the first place? I know that you can't make that happen but it doesn't mean that I don't dream of it or when I'm crying myself to sleep I don't wish that it had never happened." If they were going to move past it then they had to be honest and if they were being honest she had to tell him the truth about how she felt, no matter how much it hurt her to admit it.

Just when he thought it wasn't possible to feel any worse about the decisions that he had made he finds out that his wife has cried herself to sleep over them and he does. "If I could go back in time to change things I would, I would have never slept with her and I definitely would have never let it continue for as long as it did. How can I fix this Stephanie? I don't want to give up on this, on us, but I don't know if you want to fix it."

"I didn't want it to be fucking broken." After snapping at him she took a deep breath and stood up walking over to the window to try and calm down because if this descended into a fight they would get nowhere.

"I'm sorry. I have said that I am sorry a thousand times but it seems like sorry is not enough but I don't know what is enough, what will fix this?"

Angrily wiping at the lone tear that ran down her cheek she turned back to face him, "Tell me about the affair."

"What?!" The last thing that he expected her to say that would fix their marriage was to tell her about the affair, "Are you serious right now Stephanie?"

"Sure. Maybe if I understand the affair I can find a way to move past it." She walked back to the couch and collapsed into it crossing her legs in front of her and taking a cushion from beside her and holding it in her lap like a comfort blanket.

It was hard to wrap his head around the strange direction that his day had taken as it had started with paperwork and now he was sat here facing his demons and owning up to his mistakes with the only woman that he had ever truly loved. "Where do I start? I met Kacey in Boston at one of the Concussion Legacy events, I'd literally not seen the kids in five days, I had come off back to back pay per view, Raw, Smackdown and NXT tapings, I was tired and I was stressed and she approached me and we started talking. On and off we spoke throughout the evening seemingly always finding our way back to each other until the event ended where she invited me to a bar for a drink and I decided to go, I don't even know why I went but even though I didn't drink she did and one thing led to another. I didn't stay the night with her, I never did, it was basically sex and I'd leave."

Stephanie underestimated exactly how hard it would be to hear the details of the affair, every new detail was like a punch to the gut making it harder and harder to breathe. As she bent forward and rested her face on the cushion it caused an itch on her cheek so she sat back and just squeezed the cushion harder against her chest as her hand came to her face to scratch the itch and as she did she felt wetness, she hadn't even realised that she was crying as she listened to it all.

Watching his wife cry hearing the details of his affair was horrible, he wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms and make it all better for her. "Are you okay?"

Was she okay? No, she really wasn't okay but she wasn't finished asking all of her questions, she just wasn't sure that she could continue right now, "Give me a minute and we'll continue." She moved to lie down on the couch, she curled up in a ball and faced the back of the couch so that she was facing away from Paul and could compose herself.

He sat there for a minute just staring at the back of her but as the minutes passed the pull to comfort his wife grew stronger. Pushing all of his fears to the side he got up from his seat and closed the short distance from his chair to where she was laying on the couch, carefully sitting on the small bit of couch behind her he moved to lie behind her so that his chest was against her back and wrapped his arm around her waist holding her. He may have been precariously perched on the very edge of the couch with the coffee table just a short distance behind him and the slightest movement could have him sprawled across the floor but being able to hold his wife again made the danger aspect worth it, he had missed this too much.

If she could just find a way to contain her emotions then she would be able to hear the rest of the details and with all of the details she could make a decision about her marriage, maybe not today but one day soon. She had barely gotten comfortable laying down when she heard movement, it didn't initially bother her but then she felt the movement directly behind her and felt him sit down and her body stiffened a little, what was he doing? Her question was answered when she felt his entire body behind her and he wrapped his arm around her waist and her body stiffened further, she should tell him to move or push him off the couch or something but the longer that he held her the more she remembered how good it felt, how much she enjoyed it and exactly how much she had missed it so she found herself relaxing into his embrace rather than pushing him away.

Paul noticed his wife stiffen as soon as he got close to her but he also noticed her body relax so maybe their marriage wasn't a lost cause, maybe there was hope for them yet. All he had to do was get through the rest of her questions and convince her that he was done with Kacey and he wanted his family back and he may just achieve it. He wasn't going to think about any of that right now, he was going to focus on having his wife in his arms again instead because the memory of it was the only thing that was going to get him through the dark nights alone in the hotel room.


	23. Chapter 23

Stephanie didn't know how long that they had been lying there together but she found herself getting comfortable in his arms again, it had been so long since she had experienced this and she missed this, she missed him. Her hand moved to cover his and her fingers slipped between his and held his hand.

The feeling of her hand holding his again made his heart soar, he did not think that he would ever get to experience this again so feeling her hand holding his was something that he wanted to remember forever.

As her emotions settled down and she became more aware of her surroundings again she felt the unmistakeable feeling of her husband's body behind her. Jerking her hand from his she pushed him away not caring that he ended up falling to the floor barely missing the coffee table directly behind him.

Wincing as he fell to the floor with a bump it was nice whilst it lasted but apparently his wife was now back to hating him. Silently he climbed to his feet and made his way back to his chair and took a seat, it was probably in his best interest not to mention what just went down between them.

Why did she allow herself to be drawn in to letting him hold her? She was so stupid to let herself go there because now it was going to hurt even more if she decided she couldn't continue with the marriage as she would be back to day one after finding out about his affair when it came to her emotions.

She lay there staring at the back of the couch for a minute before she sat up and turned back to face him completely ignoring what went down between them, "Let's finish this."

Paul reached for his water unscrewing the cap and taking a drink of it, the hardest questions were probably to come and he was in no way prepared for them. "Sure, whenever you are ready."

That answer would be never but she was going to push through her fear and try to reach a better place. "How long did it go on for?"

"Just about three months, give or take a few weeks." He wiped his hands on his legs, they were apparently going to be going for the hard questions and he was terrified.

Was it good news that he didn't know exactly how long he was with her? She wasn't sure. "Was it always about sex?"

His eyes widened at that question, how was he meant to answer it? The truth was that for him it was nothing but sex, an escape from the real world but it didn't make him look very good if he said exactly that to his wife.

Crossing her arms she glared at him, "No answers will be taken as a 'yes' so I would be very careful of what you choose to stay silent on."

"Fuck. The truth is that it was just about sex with her, I had no feelings for her and I didn't really care about her life."

Could she get passed 'just sex'? If there were no feelings from him then it meant that he didn't emotionally cheat on her, he just physically cheated on her and although both were bad maybe the lack of emotions wasn't so bad? Who was she kidding, whether there were emotions involved or not it still made her feel like absolute shit.

"If it was just about sex why did you have a secret credit card and why did you buy her flowers and such?"

"Because I had to." Exhaling deeply he didn't know what to say, he was digging himself a bigger hole and he was probably now filling the earth in on top of himself burying his marriage but he couldn't lie to her and he couldn't stay silent. "If I didn't buy her flowers occasionally then it wouldn't have continued to happen so it was just a sweetener really. I know that you'll probably see me as a terrible person for that but it's the truth. When I buy flowers for you it's to say I love you or simply that I care, when I bought them for her it was just a sweetener to make sure the next time we were together that she'd sleep with me."

"But she didn't see it like that did she?" As much as he was trying to justify his actions it was just making her feel worse about herself.

When his wife asked that question it made him feel awful because it made him realise how much he had led the other woman on and despite how crazy she had acted it was his fault that she felt like he actually cared about her.

The unmistakeable look of guilt on his face wasn't surprising as her husband did have a big heart but as his wife and the only woman that he should care that much about it hurt that he felt that guilt towards the other woman. She didn't need him to verbally respond to tell her that she was right though so she was just going to move on.

"Did you ever sleep with her anywhere in this house or in the lake house?"

"No! Never." Even the idea of bringing her to either of their houses and sleeping with her there made him feel ill, "I would never bring another woman in to either of our houses to sleep with them, they are our houses and are sacred."

"Unlike our marriage which is totally not sacred." She wasn't going to apologise for her comment, he deserved it. "Exactly how many times did you sleep with her?"

The chances of him being able to give an accurate answer were slim to none and he couldn't even come up with a ballpark figure and he needed to, he needed to give her a number because he needed her to know that it was nothing to him. As much as he tried to do the maths in his head and figure something out he had nothing, he simply had no idea how many times he had slept with her. "I don't know, I just don't know. I wish that I could give you some sort of number but I didn't keep count."

Fine, she was going to have to deal with him not knowing exactly how many times he slept with her, she didn't have to like it but she had to just deal with it and let it go. One question had been bothering her ever since she found out about the affair but she definitely wasn't sure that she would ever be ready to hear the answer.

A long term relationship allowed you to learn a lot about your partner and their facial expressions and despite the pain on Stephanie's face it was clear that something was plaguing her. "If you have something to ask just ask it. I will answer any question you have if it will help you figure out if you can get past this."

"Did you always have safe sex?" Her fingernails were digging in to the palms of her hands as she clutched her hands in tight fists waiting for his answer, every second that ticked by felt like an hour. The last thing she needed right now was to have to go and have herself checked out at the sexual health clinic because her husband couldn't keep it in his pants.

Paul was happy to answer any questions but the fact that his wife had to ask that of him hurt, it hurt to realise exactly how little trust there was because if she trusted him she would already know the answer to the question. This wasn't about him though; it was about reassuring her and trying to get them to move past it, "Always. Every single time was safe sex and it was never close to not being."

"Well aren't you a good little Boy Scout?"

The sarcasm in her voice and the roll of the eyes didn't pass by Paul; he couldn't really blame her though. Re-living his affair wasn't fun and it wasn't making him feel better about any of the choices that he had made, he thought that it would be productive for Stephanie as she wanted to find out more it seemed but it just seemed like the more answers that he gave the more that she was being tortured by them and no matter what she or anybody else said the last thing that he ever wanted to do was to torture his wife.

It felt like she had asked almost all of the questions that she had to ask but there was one set of burning questions remaining, "Was she better in bed than me? Did you go elsewhere because I don't satisfy you in bed? Any more, ever, whatever the case may be." They were shallow and pretty superficial questions but she needed to know.

Although in reality the distance between them with a couple of feet when she asked those questions it felt like he was a million miles away from her. Practically jumping from his seat to sit next to her on the couch he grabbed hold of her hands noticing the lack of resistance when he did so. "No, no, no, no and no again. It was never about you being bad in bed Stephanie; it was never about me being bored of you or you not satisfying me or whatever it is that you think that is wrong with you. Steph I love you and only you, I never stopped loving you and every decision that I made is on me and had nothing to do with you."

His words were great but they didn't do anything to make up for the hurt that he had caused or the massive hole that was currently in her heart because of that hurt and because she missed him so much.

Whatever his wife was currently thinking of she looked broken by it but when the tears started falling down her cheeks he pulled her into his arms and wrapped her up tightly. God, holding her close felt so good, he hoped that she didn't pull away.

She should pull away from him because he didn't deserve to comfort her when she was upset but she had missed this so much it was hard to pull away from the touch and comfort that she was craving. Moving just that little bit closer to him she wrapped her arms around his waist, "I still love you."

The sob that racked her body at the confession broke his heart, he had destroyed his wife. His head dropped to rest on the top of hers as he held her tightly and a few tears escaped his eyes as her nails scraped at his back as she clutched on to him.

In their own ways they were two very broken people, the question was whether they could put themselves back together and find a way to make their marriage work or whether they needed to call it quits now for the sake of their family.

Being together with him and wrapped up in his arms was somewhere she didn't want to leave but the mixed signals that she was sending him and the amount that it hurt having him so close again was making it hard to justify staying close. Slowly and reluctantly she attempted to remove herself from his arms but the grip that he had on her was tight and he wasn't letting go. "Paul?"

"Yes?" He could feel her moving and he had a feeling that he knew what she wanted but he wasn't ready to let her go, he didn't want the moment to end.

"Can you let me go please?"

"No." Maybe denying her what she wanted was on the same level of smart as having the affair to begin with so he quickly realised that he needed to keep talking to her. "If I let you go then the chances of me getting to hold you again like this are probably slim to none so I just don't want to let you go okay?"

Why did he have to say that? It just brought on a fresh batch of tears. Angrily wiping at the tears as they fell down her cheeks she didn't want to cry over him anymore, she just wanted to move on and to be happy.

The guilt that he felt at making her cry again was immeasurable. He released his one arm and wiped at her tears, "Please don't cry Steph, I don't mean to make you cry."

"I know." Taking a few deep breaths she looked anywhere but in his eyes, "It isn't that I don't want to be with you because I do, I really do, it's just that I don't know what to do. I still love you, more than I probably should given the circumstances, but I don't know that I can get past the affair and trust you like I used to. If I can't trust you then we are both going to be utterly miserable and it won't be good for the girls."

No, no, no, she couldn't say that she didn't know if she could trust him again, they **had** to work this out. His hands went back to her sides holding her tightly, "You can learn to trust me again, if we work at it then we can get there, I know we can."

She wanted to, but she wasn't sure, "I don't know Paul. Is it even possible to regain the trust once it has been shattered that badly? Will I be able to trust you to go away on your own? Will I be able to trust you around other women? Will you now not trust me and think that I'm going to sleep with somebody else?"

"Those are a lot of questions. Have you eaten today? I could stay a little longer and cook for you and we could try and figure this out, if you want?"

Stephanie had no idea what she should do. Her brain was such a jumbled mess but strangely she didn't want him to leave, however she didn't know if she was asking for trouble by not just kicking him out and figuring it all out on her own. "Maybe I'm an idiot for agreeing to this but okay, you can cook me dinner and stay so that we can talk some more."

The fact that his wife was going to allow him to stay and cook for her was good progress and something that he could not mess up. He was likely to only have this one opportunity to prove to her that he was really sorry and that he was serious about putting their family back together so he was going to have to make the most of it. "Any requests?"

"Something edible?"

"Well that narrows it down, thanks for the help. I'll call you when it's ready." Releasing his hold on her waist he stood up, "I will have something hopefully edible to you in a little while, just sit here and relax and let me take care of you."

She watched as he walked away amazed that he thought that it was that easy for her to relax. She couldn't relax now, she had so much to think about and she would probably not be able to sleep tonight. Sighing heavily she reached for her phone; she needed to check up on the girls and do something to distract herself for a while.


	24. Chapter 24

Merry Christmas everybody, I hope that you all have a safe and happy holidays :)

* * *

The fact that she was allowing him to stay so that they could continue to talk gave Paul hope. As he walked in to the kitchen he spotted the sandwich on the table and shook his head, obviously she had made it and had not eaten it. Picking up the plate he took it over to the counter and fished out the foil from the cupboard and wrapped up the sandwich before he placed it in the fridge.

With the sandwich in the fridge he put the plate in the dishwasher and then turned his attention to dinner, he didn't have the first clue of what to cook but he would find something. He wanted to impress her as if it was their first date, only this time he would hopefully be impressing her by throwing together anything that she had in the cupboards.

Her finger hovered over her Mom's cell phone number, she didn't want to get a lecture but she really needed to talk to somebody to take her mind off of Paul for a few minutes. Eventually pressing call she hoped that she could speak to the girls, she wasn't going to tell them that their Dad was with her though.

Linda couldn't help but smile as she watched out of the window as Vince threw a ball for their dog who was chased by all three girls as they tried to beat him to it, she admired their confidence thinking they could beat the dog. Distracted by watching them all playing outside she forgot about dinner on the stove but she soon remembered it though when she heard the distinctive sizzle and the smell of burning and quickly began to stir it, in the middle of which her phone began to ring so blindly reaching for it she simply answered it and put it to her ear without checking the screen, "Linda McMahon speaking."

"Mom, is everything okay?"

Turning the stove right the way down there was something about the way that Stephanie spoke that immediately put her on high alert, "Everything is fine thank you, I was just distracted because I had been watching your Dad and the girls playing outside and forgot the dinner that I had cooking on the stove so it had begun to burn and I was trying to make sure that it was going to be edible. So how are you? How did things go with Paul?"

How did things go with Paul? That was a very good question, she wasn't quite sure of the answer though because she was blocking out processing it. "How do you know I even called him and asked him over?"

"Because you have called me and I know that you have only done that as you want comfort from your Mom because you are hurting. How bad was it?"

"Horrendous, absolutely horrendous and heartbreaking." With a fear of being overheard she looked to the door to make sure that he wasn't hovering around outside for some reason, "He's still here, we are going to continue to talk after he cooks dinner, his idea. I don't know how to feel about any of it though, I know that I still love him but I don't know if I can move past this."

Linda felt for her daughter, it was clear that she had a lot of internal conflict over the situation and she knew that a lot had to do with her love for Paul, the fact that he girls were so young and how she had seen herself go through it with Vince. "Don't allow him to push you to make a decision and don't force yourself to make a decision quickly either. You need to take as long as you need because this is your life that you are deciding on and only one person can decide what is right for you and that is you."

"I love him but I hate him, I want to kiss him but I want to slap him, I want to crawl into his arms and never leave them but I also want to kick him out of the house and never see him again. I want to move past this but I don't know if I can and I hate myself for saying that."

The feeling of her heart breaking for her daughter was becoming depressingly familiar to her and there was absolutely nothing that she could do to make it better. "You feel how you feel though Stephanie, you shouldn't beat yourself up because you're not immediately forgiving him or ending the relationship. He is a very lucky man that you have given him this much and have allowed him to explain himself; so many women just end it or brush it under the rug and regret it forever."

That really didn't make Stephanie feel any better though, so what if he was lucky, it didn't make her feel lucky. "How do I make the decision though Mom? How will I know if I can get past the fact that he cheated on me and trust him again? How did you decide that with Dad?"

"With your Dad I just knew that he wouldn't do it again and we worked on our relationship and slowly were able to rebuild it. You have to make the decision by what you feel in your heart and not what other people will think and you can't just say you need to stay together for the girls, they will pick up on it if you stay together and your heart isn't actually in the relationship."

Speaking of the girls the back door burst open and they came running inside, "Shoes off girls."

"I was going to remind them of that. Jeez, anybody would think that you don't trust me with my own Grandchildren." Vince made a face as he turned to lock the back door.

"I saw that Vincent Kennedy McMahon."

Murphy giggled at her Grandparents arguments, "Oooh, Grandpa's in trouble."

Just hearing her daughter's laughter made Stephanie's heart hurt, "Can I talk to them please?"

She had almost forgotten that she was on the phone so it was a bit of a shock when she heard her daughter's voice but she was quick to change her phone to speaker, "Be my guest Stephanie."

"Thanks Mom."

The girls were quick to crowd around their Grandma however she just as quickly passed the phone off to her husband, "Follow Grandpa into the lounge please and let me finish dinner in safety."

Shoes were off and thrown haphazardly into the corner of the room before Vince was all but pushed out of the room leaving Linda the opportunity to finish dinner.

When she ended the call it surprised Stephanie by exactly how much talking to her daughters had made her feel better, she no longer felt like she was in a deep dark pit, there was a small glimmer of hope in her heart and it was all because of her daughters. She hadn't been lying to Paul when she said that some days they were the only reason she kept going, especially in the early days when it was so hard.

Paul had immersed himself in dinner preparations wanting to make sure that it was at least edible and hopefully delicious. Much to his relief when he had finished cooking it did seem to be both things. He waited until he had dished it all up before he called Stephanie as he took it to the kitchen table so that they could eat.

She had been so caught up in her call with her Mom that she had forgotten that Paul was there. The mention of food cleared any nervousness she had about being alone with him again though as her stomach instantly growled so she would be far too busy eating to be worrying about talking anything so he would just have to wait.

When she entered the kitchen the first thing on her mind was how good the kitchen smelt, if the smell was anything to go by then dinner was going to be delicious. Sliding into her seat she tried to think of something to say to him, why was it so hard to talk to her husband right now? It wasn't like they didn't use to be best friends and didn't use to be able to talk about anything and everything under the sun.

As he sat down opposite his wife Paul wondered where they went so terribly wrong. Even though he had had the affair she was acting like he was an entirely different person that she didn't know any more, that couldn't be further than the truth though, he was still the same person, he had just made one almighty mistake.

The silence was awkward so she said the first thing that came to her mind, "This smells nice."

"Hopefully it tastes as good as it smells. I threw together whatever I could find in the cupboards and fridge. The fact that there wasn't a whole lot to choose from limited my options but I didn't feel it was my place to go out and buy a load of groceries as I thought that you would just get mad at me for that too."

She refused to rise to that and just kept her mouth shut and focussed on eating dinner.

As a result of his comment and Stephanie refusing to speak dinner was eaten under a thick cloud of awkwardness.

He had stayed so that they could continue to talk but she didn't know what to say to him, what could she say that would explain how she felt and why she was so conflicted about everything?

Although he had cooked dinner Paul tidied the dishes away once they had finished. It was almost like Stephanie was in a trance because she didn't even notice when he took her plate from her and put it in the dishwasher.

Once the kitchen was tidied he stood behind his chair placing his hands on the back of it, "Would you prefer it if I left?"

Was somebody talking to her? She was so caught up in all of the thoughts running through her mind that she didn't even know what was going on around her as she was surprised to see that the table was completely clear. "Oh, you tidied up."

"Well yeah, I figured I would get all of the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and put things away, you just so happened to be in your own little world and didn't notice. Do you want me to leave you alone now?"

"Can you stay for a bit please?" She didn't want to be alone, she couldn't be alone. For reasons she wasn't quite sure of she had allowed herself to over think it and was now terrified that if she let him leave tonight then he wouldn't ever return.

"Of course I can stay for a while. Do you want to talk some more about us?" It was a good sign that she didn't want to kick him out so he was going to keep grasp on to any small opportunity that he was given and not let go.

She didn't really want to talk about them, she wanted to bury her head in the sand but that wasn't going to help her make up her mind about whether they could move on or not, "Sure. Let's go and sit back in the lounge so that we are at least comfortable."

Following his wife as she made her way back through to the lounge he wondered where she drifted off to when they were eating, had she made a decision on them? Was he just jumping to conclusions? As he sat down he almost felt like he was facing a judge and they were about to tell him if he got the death penalty.

When they had been sitting there for a few minutes and she hadn't said anything he decided to just push the issue, "Talk to me will you please?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"The truth? How you feel? Ask questions? I really don't care Steph, if we are going to work through it or move past it then we need to just keep talking and with the girls currently at your parents then now is the perfect time to get it all out in the open."

If he wanted it all out in the open she could give him that. "I love you but I hate you, I want to kiss you but I want to slap you, I want you to hold me in your arms and never let me go but I want to kick you out and never let you back in. How is that for getting it all out in the open?"

Okay so she was conflicted, he could work with conflicted because it was not hate. "For me I know that I just love you. I don't think that there is anything else that I can say other than I don't want to lose you and will do whatever I have to do to fix this."

Strangely those were the first words that he had spoken that she truly believed he meant but there was still a small lingering doubt in the back of her mind and she just wanted to lash out and hurt him, "I'm sure you don't want to lose me, after all if you did then you would have to own up to everybody what you did and then they would all realise that you were only with me because you wanted to get ahead." The second that the words left her mouth she regretted them because the pain was evident on his face.

He could take anything that she could throw at him but he couldn't take that, he didn't care if she was just lashing out, he would not sit back and allow her to accuse him and potentially even truly think that those words were true. "You can say whatever you want, you can accuse me of whatever you want to but never, and I really do mean **never** , accuse me of only being with you to get ahead. Yes I made one horrendous mistake by sleeping with Kacey but I was **never** only with you to get ahead, if you asked me to quit WWE to save our marriage I would do it in a heartbeat. I care about two things in the world, you and the girls, nothing and nobody else comes close to meaning as much to me as the four of you do and it hurts that you actually doubt me and the past fifteen years that we have spent together."

The words came out as a whisper as she stared down at the floor, "I don't doubt that you were with me because you wanted to be with me, I don't really think that you were with me to get ahead, I just wanted to hurt you."

"Well mission accomplished. I don't need you to apologise for it, I just need you to never ever think that of me again."

Before she knew it the tears were flowing down her cheeks, it wasn't that he had made her cry, she was so tired, drained and so incredibly over emotional right now that the tears just came.

He didn't even think about what he was doing next, when he saw her cry he simply got out of his seat and moved to sit beside her and pulled her into his arms holding her tightly against his chest.

As she clutched on to him again all she could think of was how she didn't want to let him go. "I'm sorry Paul, I'm really sorry."

Why was she apologising? He was the one who had caused this mess and for her to be apologising it just didn't make any sense but it was the person his wife was, she had the biggest heart and that was part of the reason why he loved her. "You don't need to apologise Steph, you haven't done anything wrong."

Lifting her head to look at him she shook her head, "But I do. I shouldn't have said what I did to you as it's not fair of me to lash out at you just to try and hurt you."

He couldn't resist from wiping at the tears on her cheeks with his thumbs, "I deserved it, you really don't need to apologise for it. If we have any chance of moving on then you need to stop thinking about how I am feeling and focus on you and what you are feeling because only you can decide whether you can move past it all. I will take anything and everything you throw at me and I will brush it off because I know that you don't really mean it, you are just saying it because you are hurting."

This was her Paul, he was kind, sweet and selfless and he was acting like the man she fell in love with. Before she realised what she was doing she placed her hands on either side of his face pulling him closer before she pressed her lips against his in a needy kiss.

He should pull back and deny the kiss because she didn't know what she was doing but it was a kiss that he hadn't had in too long and he wanted it as much as she did so he simply returned the kiss pouring as many of his feelings in to it as he could.

The lack of air had her pulling back from the kiss, she couldn't face him so instead rested her head on his shoulder, he felt, smelled and tasted like home. "Please stay." She knew that she was walking a slippery slope but the words were out of her mouth before she even thought about it.

Stay? That was a huge step and he knew that it didn't necessarily mean anything about their future and it could just be she didn't want to be alone so he couldn't jump to any conclusions but they were making progress, maybe. "Sure, where to?"

"In bed with me."

He was willing to go along with anything for her but if he just went along with this and didn't say anything then any progress that they may have made could be ruined. "Steph are you sure? One minute you hate me and the next you want me to stay in bed with you? I have no problem doing it if it is what you really want but I need to know that it is before I stay so then in the morning you don't wake up and regret it and this just pushes us further apart."

Initially she didn't know why she had said it but sat there next to her husband she saw glimpses of the man that she had fallen in love with and she wanted to hold on to those for as long as she could. "I'm sure about it Paul. Please don't deny me this one thing."

How could he deny her when this was exactly what he wanted? "Never."

A soft smile came to her lips knowing that he wasn't going to deny her this. Moving on the couch she leant against him, hopefully tomorrow when her emotions weren't so all over the place she wouldn't wake up and regret the decisions that she had made tonight because she was being ruled by her emotions and not by her head.


	25. Chapter 25

When Paul and Stephanie went to sleep on Saturday night they were laying side by side on the bed with a small gap between them and not touching each other at all, when she woke up on Sunday morning Stephanie found herself with her head resting on his chest and her body curled around him and his arm around her.

You would have thought that after so long sleeping in a hotel bed that he would have slept late in to the morning but it was actually the opposite, he woke up relatively early. Despite being up early he didn't move an inch, not once he realised that in the night his wife had curled up against his side and was holding him close to her. There was no way that he was going to move unless he really had to, not until she woke up anyway because the chances of this happening again anytime soon were slim to none so he wanted to make the most of it.

Waking up next to somebody was a strange feeling for Stephanie as it had been so long since she had done it so as she came to and realised that there was a body beneath her head and her arm she anxiously pulled away from the body as fast as she could. As she became more aware of her surroundings she realised that she was in her own bed and her eyes soon settled on the man that, for the time being anyway, was her husband and she felt guilty for her reaction, "I'm sorry. I'm not used to sleeping with anybody now so it was strange to wake up with somebody in bed with me."

If that wasn't a punch to the gut he didn't know what was, his own wife freaked out because she woke up in bed with him. "It's okay, I understand how it is. Is it okay if I shower and have breakfast here or do you want me to just leave now?" It felt weird to essentially be asking for permission to shower in his own house but her initial reaction upon waking up had made him nervous about how she was going to react to things.

The last thing that she wanted to do was kick him out when it was his house and it was unlikely that the kids would be back for a while yet so she nodded her head, "It's fine, you know where the bathroom and towels are."

Not wanting to outstay his welcome he quickly got out of bed and went to find a towel to use the main bathroom.

Although he was leaving she didn't move to get out of bed, she just needed five minutes to herself so she reached across for her phone and checked her emails and the text messages that were there before she did get out of bed.

Twenty minutes later and she walked in to the kitchen to see Paul attempting to cook her chocolate pancakes, "You're doing it all wrong."

"I'm trying, I am really trying here. I wanted to make you something that you like for breakfast so that you had something to eat before I leave but as many times as I have watched you cook them I don't know what I am doing wrong."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at him and made her way over to him to rescue the pancakes so they were how she made them, "This is how you do it."

Paul took a step back and had to hold back a smile as he watched his wife, she was so much more relaxed around him right now and whether that would actually last is a question yet to be answered but he was going to enjoy this whilst it lasted.

Once she had shown him how to make the pancakes properly he shooed her away so she sat down at the island with a bottle of water and watched him work.

The two were sat silently eating their pancakes when the doorbell rang and both of their bodies stiffened, this was not going to be good.

"I should see who that is. I'll be back in a minute." Every step towards the front door felt like she was on a floor elevator that was working against her and not with her so by the time she reached the door it felt like a lifetime. Slowly opening the door her stomach dropped when she saw her Mom and the girls, this was not going to be good but she plastered a smile on her face, "Hey, what are you doing here so early?"

Linda saw the look on her daughter's face and wondered what they had just interrupted, "The girls were restless and wanted to come back home to you, you don't mind do you?"

Stephanie was already in the middle of the best hug from her daughters that she didn't want to release them from, she had no idea how to explain Paul's presence in the house but she would have to find a way and quickly. "I don't mind at all, I missed my babies so I am more than happy that you brought them back early."

She didn't buy her daughter for a moment, something wasn't right but she didn't know exactly what it was.

When his wife left the room Paul had gotten up from his chair and moved to the doorway to listen in, he had to be sure that he didn't need to run for cover if it was her brother. The sound of his daughter's excitement when the door opened made him both happy and terrified, who had brought them back? How would he explain his presence to them? He really needed to come up with an excuse quickly.

"Mommy I want a drink."

Of course Murphy would sense her Father was in the kitchen and would want to go and see him, she couldn't exactly tell her she wasn't allowed near the kitchen until she found a way to sneak Paul out. "Hold on a minute and say goodbye to your Grandma and then I will get you a drink."

The girls each took their turn and hugged their Grandma thanking her for the previous day when there was movement behind them, "Daddy!"

He thought that he was free to leave the kitchen when he heard the girls saying goodbye to Linda and things went quiet but as he stepped out of the kitchen he realised exactly how wrong he was. Bending down he hugged the girls as they ran at him, "I missed you."

Stood to the side Aurora put her hands on her hips, "You saw us on Friday Daddy."

"But Friday was aaaagggeeeesss ago."

"So why are you here Dad?"

He could always rely on his oldest to get straight to the point and not beat around the bush. "Well you see I was so caught up with something last night that I forgot to call you so I thought that I would drop by first thing this morning to say sorry in person. When I got here your Mom said that you were at your Grandparents and she offered me some of her famous chocolate pancakes and I just couldn't say no to that and that is where we are at now."

Linda was suspicious as she knew that he had stayed for dinner but to be back first thing in the morning? "Why don't you walk me to my car Steph? Goodbye girls, bye Paul." She wasn't surprised when the girls didn't respond but she was impressed that despite everything Paul took the time to smile and wave at her.

As they walked out of the door she felt like she was walking to her death because Stephanie knew that her Mom was about to give her the third degree.

The second that the door was shut behind them the older woman stopped walking and turned to her daughter, "He stayed the night didn't he?"

"I didn't want to be alone." There was no point lying to her Mom because she would see right through every lie she tried to tell her, "We stayed in the same bed, nothing happened, I just needed the comfort of another person's company and he gave that to me by just being there. I never cooked the pancakes, he did, well technically he started them and I had to show him how to do them properly. He is only staying to finish his pancakes and then he is leaving so that I can spend time with the girls, I don't know where my future with him lies but I can't deny that I still love him but my brain is a jumbled mess."

The respect she had for her daughter soared as she was completely honest with her and laid it all out in the open, "Thank you for being honest with me, you really didn't have to tell me that much if you didn't want to."

"You're my Mom, you would have found out when we had lunch this week anyway so why not just tell you now and not lie about it?"

Lunch? She had completely forgotten that they had agreed to that, not because she was old but because seeing Paul there had completely thrown her off course. "How about Wednesday? I know you'll be doing stuff for the TV's on Monday and Tuesday so unless you want to juggle both I'm happy to do Wednesday."

"Wednesday is good thanks." The last thing that Stephanie wanted to do confront her feelings about what they had discussed last night and then have to think about the shows.

Hugging her daughter she kissed her cheek, "Wednesday it is then. I will let you get back inside but I'll pick you up around one just so you don't forget about me."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Thank you to you and Dad for having the girls, I think yesterday was the best thing for us all, hopefully anyway. I love you."

"You're welcome, it was our pleasure. I'm sure that as things settle down you will be certain that it was the right thing for you. Have fun with the girls today and we will catch up later."

Stephanie waited for her Mom to leave before she went back inside expecting them all to be stood around in the kitchen doorway as they had been but when they weren't there she followed the noise through to the kitchen. When she walked through the kitchen door she couldn't help but shake her head, the girls had clearly put one hell of a guilt trip on their Father as he had given up his remaining pancakes and they were all sat there eating one each. "So who started the guilt trip to get you the pancakes?"

"Nobody did Steph, I offered them." He knew where his wife was coming from as he knew how much they loved the pancakes, it was why he had offered his remaining pancakes to them, the truth was that it gave him an excuse to leave now so that they didn't start asking questions because he didn't want to lie to them again.

She didn't believe him at all, he was lying to her and that put her on edge, he was lying so easily that she wasn't sure if she could trust him and now she was thinking that she was beginning to doubt everything that he had said to her yesterday.

The look that flashed across his wife's face made him nervous and it was even more reason to get out of there right now before things went wrong between them again. "I shall leave you all to it as I am sure that your Mom has a fun day planned for you but I will call you later. Be good girls and I love you." He walked along the line and gave each girl a kiss before he walked over to his wife almost instinctively giving her a kiss also, "Walk me to the door please?"

Hesitant to do as he asked she glanced briefly at the girls looking for an excuse to stay but they were all preoccupied so she nodded her head, "Stay where you are girls." She then followed her husband out of the room.

"They didn't guilt me in to giving them my pancakes, I did it because I know how much they love them and also I wasn't sure if I should stick around as I didn't want to make things awkward with them here now too. I know you haven't decided what you want to do about us and I fully respect that so I will just leave you alone to decide and will just call once a day to speak with the girls."

Why was he being so relaxed? After last night and this morning she thought that he would be pushing for an answer so she was surprised that he wasn't. "So what are you going to do with your day?"

"I'll go back to the hotel and do paperwork, I'll finish what I was working on yesterday and then go to the gym or something." Truthfully he didn't know what he was going to do beyond the paperwork but he'd figure it out when he got to it.

"Even if I do decide that I want to stay with you I don't think that I will be ready for you to move back in straight away." Where had that come from?

She didn't want him to move back in straight away? Maybe he was stupid to think that things would go back to normal once she said that she wanted them to be together again or maybe he was just overly hopeful. "How long are we talking Steph? Actually you know what that isn't fair of me to ask that of you. I don't want you to answer that, I will just tell you up front right now that I can't keep living in the hotel so this week I am going to try and find somewhere to rent, the girls will have the opportunity to see the house before I sign anything, you can see them too if you want so you can be certain that the girls will be safe."

"I trust you to pick somewhere where the girls will be safe and I know that you will always protect them with your life. What sort of contract are you looking at signing?"

"The shortest possible? I was thinking that I'll sign a short term lease, the shortest that they will give me whilst I give you time to decide what you want to do and then if you decide you want to give us another go I will see if they can give me a month by month kind of deal whilst we work on our marriage and if you decide that we are through then I will immediately start looking for somewhere permanent to live so that the girls can have a stable second home."

Hearing him talk about them being through and the girls having a stable second home was too much for her, "I can't do this, let yourself out." Immediately turning around she went straight up the stairs to compose herself as her eyes had filled with tears and she didn't want to spoil the day with the girls by crying.

Stood at the door watching his wife run away from him was becoming an all too familiar sight for Paul and one he wasn't overly keen on seeing. Reluctantly opening the door he let himself out to begin the waiting game.

Stephanie had gone straight to the bathroom and now stood in front of the mirror, she was the reason that he had said all of those things so she had no reason to be upset but the reality that he had obviously thought hard about what he would do if they didn't work out scared her.

After taking a minute to compose herself she tried to block thoughts of Paul from her mind as she went back downstairs to find the girls having all finished their pancake but they were still sat at the table, "Why are you still sat here?"

"Because you told us to stay where we are so we did."

A soft chuckle passed her lips at how literal they had taken it; she only wanted them to stay away from the stove and not to follow her to the door. She couldn't find a way to explain it to them so she just moved on, "So if I remember correctly I promised something for today, the only problem is that I really don't remember what it was."

In unison all three girls let her know exactly what she was forgetting, "Cookies!"

"That's right, I did promise that we would make cookies didn't I? Let's get this tidied up and we can start cooking."

"But you haven't finished your breakfast yet, you must eat your breakfast."

She did think about arguing with her oldest daughter but she quickly realised that it would be like arguing with herself so there was just no point to it. Taking her seat back at the table she picked up her knife and fork to eat them but soon put them back down again, "Why don't you have one and a bit pancakes each? I'm sure that you'll like that."

Murphy crossed her arms and gave her Mom her best stern look, "No, you must eat them like a good girl."

"But you ate your Dad's." She didn't understand why she couldn't share them with her daughters.

"'Cos Daddy is big and strong and doesn't need them, you's got to eat because we said so."

It was beginning to feel like three against one so to save herself from having an argument with them and losing it anyway she picked up her knife and fork again and began to tuck in to the remaining pancakes.

"Thank you Mommy."


	26. Chapter 26

It had been a really hectic few days for Paul but he had managed to schedule a couple of house viewings for after work on Wednesday, he was going to be leaving work earlier than normal but he would finish his work when he eventually got back to the hotel.

After baking a couple of different kinds of cookies on Sunday Stephanie had been grateful when all they wanted to do was sit down and watch a movie, she was still struggling after her trip to Brazil and then emotionally being drained by her conversation with Paul she was just plain exhausted.

It was almost like the girls could tell that she was struggling with everything because for the past few days they had been on their best behaviour. Unfortunately all of the good behaviour in the world was not going to get her out of this lunch with her Mom; she was regretting agreeing to it now that she had had time to begin processing her conversation with Paul. Forcing a smile as her Mom returned from the restroom, "I have decided what I want so when you are ready we can order."

Linda was no idiot, she knew that her daughter didn't want to be here now and she feared that it was because she didn't want to talk at all and the last thing she wanted to happen was for her daughter to bottle everything up inside. "It shouldn't take me long; I kind of have an idea of what I want already."

A few minutes later and their orders had been placed and it was just the two of them again, "How are the girls?"

"Good, too good actually. They are all behaving really well and it is just making me suspicious."

"I remember those days." Laughing at the memories she shook her head, "Believe me when I say that it never gets easier, you will always remain suspicious of your children when they are acting outside of the norm for them."

"I love the girls to death but I am expecting them to ask to go to Disney any day now, that or for Paul to move back in."

Now she had brought his name up there was no harm in her mentioning him, "So how are things with Paul?"

That was a really good question actually, she hadn't actually spoken to him since he had left on Sunday, he was giving her space and not pushing her and it almost made her more confused. "Nothing has changed, he is still looking for somewhere to rent this week and making me wonder if he wants to save this marriage or not. I know that I told him that I wouldn't want him to move back in straight away but he is almost too eager not to come home."

"So you want him to fight you over that? Maybe he thinks arguing with you over it would backfire on him."

Sitting back in the chair she crossed her arms over her chest, "Well maybe I need to see passion and to know that he actually cares enough to fight for this."

And now she knew what the problem was, her daughter felt like her husband was going along with things too easily and she wanted him to fighting for them more, she could understand this but Paul was not a psychic and she doubted that her daughter had said anything of the kind to him. "So apart from him not fighting enough for the marriage how was the talk between you two?"

"Painful. Hearing so many of the details of the affair was really hard but I did learn a lot. I also saw glimpses of the man that I knew, the man that loved me and would do anything for his family and would rather die than hurt any of us so that was weird. I really don't know what to do though, no matter how much I think about it I just can't seem able to decide if I actually can forget what he did."

"It is still early days Steph; you only had a proper conversation with him a couple of days ago so it will probably take you longer than this to process it all and make a decision."

She felt like she needed to make a quick decision though, this wasn't just her life that she was messing with. "I don't have time to wait forever Mom, the girls need stability and they need it now."

Linda reached across the table and grabbed hold of her daughter's hands, "They have stability, they have both you and Paul. Even though you aren't living in the same house you are proving that you are a unit and that you are both there for them."

She didn't want to talk about this any more, she was sick of thinking about it and not making a single decision about her future, "Enough about that, can we talk about something else please?"

It was just before five when Paul pulled up outside the first house and immediately he knew that this house was not for him, there was something about it that he didn't like, he didn't know what it was but he was going to listen to his gut if after seeing the house it still told him that it wasn't right.

As he suspected after viewing the house he knew that it wasn't right so when he got back into the car he screwed the details in to a ball and tossed them to the back seat, now to move on to the next house.

When he pulled up to the next house he didn't have any negative feelings towards it so he was looking forward to looking around. As he got out of the car he noticed that from the outside it didn't look like a bad house, maybe a little neglected but that could all be fixed with a mow of the lawn, a dig of the borders and maybe a lick of paint to the outside of the house. "What is the area like?"

"It is a nice area, the neighbours are friendly and all look out for each other. It is a little older around here but only because the houses haven't been sold and changed hands in a long time so they have all lived here for more years than I think they would care for you to know."

The knowledge that the realtor had for this house and area was certainly superior to the last house which made him feel more comfortable here. As he looked around the house he noticed a picture almost hidden at the back of one of the tops in the lounge, "Is this meant to be here?"

Taking the picture from his hand she quickly stuffed it into her pocket, "No it isn't. I am so sorry that I missed that when I was tidying the house up for it to go up, it was just a bit of a rush when it was all done."

"You tidied the house? Since when is that even an option?"

"Since it is my best friend of twenty years' parent's house." There was no point hiding the truth so she may as well be honest with him in the hopes that he would rent it. "As I said this is my best friend's parent's house. It has been a rush to get this up on the market because about eight months ago her Mom died and then just about two months ago her Dad had a nasty fall and broke his hip and the Doctor said that he would no longer be able to live independently so they needed money fast to fund the cost of the home. That is why the house is a little messy and not in the best condition outside but I will be fixing that up on my weekends."

If he didn't like the house before he definitely liked it now, it was a real family home. "How soon could I move in if I took the house? Also what is the shortest contract that they would accept?"

"Honestly you could move in tomorrow if you wanted. There is not a whole lot of interest in the house and as long as you pay the bond and first month's rent the family would be happy for you to move in as soon as possible. To be honest I think that they would be happy with as long as you needed it, as long as you paid rent and gave a month's notice so we could look for another tenant then that is all they ask."

This house was just perfect; the short term nature of it fitted his needs perfectly. "That is all good to know, thanks. Let's go and see the other two houses we have and then I have somebody to discuss this with before I can make a decision but I will most certainly not leave you hanging around as I need somewhere fast.

After seeing all of the houses he was down to two possibilities and now he needed to show them to the girls but there was no way he was just going to drop by the house so he could only text his wife.

 _I have narrowed down the houses to two, I would like to show the girls the details & maybe the houses if that would be okay with you?_

Once he had sent the text he didn't know what to do with himself, he needed to get some dinner but he wanted something different to eat for a change so really he needed to find a restaurant that took his fancy.

Stephanie was just about to leave work when her phone beeped, fearing that it was the Nanny saying that the girls were being really bad she reluctantly looked at it. It was worse than knowing the girls were misbehaving; it was her husband saying that he had found some houses that he liked, "Well he didn't waste any time." There were many options as to when he could discuss the houses, part of her wanted to force him to wait to discuss it but a bigger part of her thought that that would be cruel and unfair and she shouldn't do that to him.

If he had found the houses quick speed then maybe she should just get it all over with.

 _I am just on my way home so I guess you could meet me there so that you can discuss it with the girls if you want?_

She sent the text and then left the office, she didn't want to know what his answer was, she just wanted to go home and get a hug from the girls, today had been too rough for her.

As she walked through the garage door she half expected to see Paul sat at the table, despite not seeing his car she wasn't sure if she had just blocked it from her memory as she wanted to block him from her memory right now. The girls not moving from their seats as she walked through the door meant one thing, homework. "Are you having fun with your homework?"

"No Mommy."

She had to laugh at her youngest daughter's response, "I don't think it is meant to be fun baby girl. Do you need any help?"

When her daughter nodded she went over and joined them at the table not even caring about her phone or if Paul had replied.

The doorbell rang as she was in the middle of going over Aurora's homework with her, "Rae, would you mind please?"

"Of course not Mrs . . . Stephanie." Instinct always had her attempt to call her 'Mrs Levesque' first, it had been like it since the day she had started and even after ten years she still struggled to get out of the habit. Brushing her hands on her apron she opened the door surprised to see her other boss, "I don't even know what I am meant to say to you. No offense is meant but I don't know how I am meant to react to this so just do whatever."

"It's okay Rae, don't worry. Where is Steph?"

"The kitchen, she is just going over Aurora's homework with her."

"Thank you, Steph is, or should be, expecting me." As he made his way through the house he got the feeling that she wasn't entirely expecting him. Poking his head around the kitchen door he smiled seeing Stephanie surrounded by all three girls going through the work for all of them to see. "Hi, I hope you don't mind me dropping in."

The squeals of excitement almost deafened Stephanie as they were almost right in her ears before they ran over to hug him. "Can we please finish this before you take their attention?"

He winced at the coldness in her tone, "Of course. Girls go and finish your homework please and then we can hug."

All but stomping and huffing their way back to the table none of them were happy to have to finish their homework when their Dad was here and he was never here so they just wanted to spend time with him.

She went through the rest of the homework as fast as possible as there was only so much sulking she could handle and not get angry at them over. Once the last piece of homework was done she placed the paper on the table, "There you go, you can hug your Dad as much as you want now." Yes she was upset that they seemed to care more about him being here than her being here but she tried to hide it as she got to her feet, "I will leave you to it and go and shower or something."

"Stay." It wasn't even that she was upset that he was asking her to stay, he genuinely wanted her opinion on the house too because he didn't want to get this terrible wrong. "I would like your opinion on this also please."

"Oh, okay." She sat back down at the table and waited patiently for him to tell her what he wanted. Whilst she waited she tidied up the table wanting to keep her eyes on anything but the sight of him and their daughters together.

Once he had hugged all of the girls and allowed them to tell him a little about their day he then ushered them over to the table, "Sit by your Mom please."

With a little help from Paul chairs were moved closer to Stephanie and they were soon sat together allowing him the chance to remove the listings from his pocket, "I went looking for a house tonight and I have narrowed it down to two so I would like your opinion on them please."

He placed the listings side by side on the table, "These are the two houses that I like the best and I would like your opinion on them please."

She knew that she shouldn't judge by appearances but seeing the outside of the one house made her nervous about it. Pointing at the listing she shook her head, "I don't like the way that this one looks."

He should have guessed that she wouldn't like it because of how it looked because if you didn't actually see the house you would assume that it was in bad shape too. "The house is fine Steph, it is just the garden and outside that has been neglected. The realtor said that she will personally be tidying up the garden on the weekends as it is her best friend's parent's place and it has been rushed on to the rental market due to the Father having a nasty fall. "

She wasn't sure though so she was glad that she didn't really have a say.

Whilst the adults had been discussing the finer points of the visual appeal of the house the older two girls had been discussing amongst themselves which house they preferred.

"Girls?"

"Which house is nearer?"

"Which one has bigger bedrooms?"

If she wasn't surrounded by her daughters she would get up and leave but as it as she couldn't get away from this conversation. It appeared that she wasn't the only one who wasn't interested in the conversation because Vaughn began to tug on her arm, "Mommy, I wants a hug."

Carefully pulling her daughter across from her chair in to her lap she kissed the top of her head, "Better?"

Nodding her head she laid her head on her Mom's shoulder and held her tightly, "Love you Mommy."

"I love you too Princess."

Paul's attention got taken from his daughter's questions instead he watched his wife and their youngest, that was one of the most precious sights when they wanted to be held like that and it always made his heart swell when he watched his wife with any of their daughters.

"Daaad."

"Okay okay." He could always rely on Murphy to start whining when she wasn't getting the attention she wanted or the answers she wanted when she wanted them. "Maybe I will have to talk to your Mom about actually showing you the houses, I don't think that I will have all of the answers for you."

"I don't want to see the houses."

Putting the two house listings together he picked them up and put them back in his pocket before he walked around the table and kissed his youngest on the temple, "That's okay, you can have fun with your Mom and I will take your sisters if your Mom agrees."

She couldn't exactly say no when he was essentially putting her on the spot in front of the girls, "Sure, they can't miss school or their bedtime but you can work around that."

"Thank you Mommy!"

She forced a smile at her daughters, she still hated that he was getting a house and she still felt like he was giving up on them but if the girls were happy she couldn't exactly complain as this was her doing.

Paul sensed that now was probably a good time to get out of there so he gave the other two girls a kiss, "I should get going as I have paperwork that I need to get done. Be good for your Mom, I love you."

"Love you too Daddy."

She watched him leave the room without glancing back; he had barely looked at her the entire time that he was here so maybe the decision about their marriage had been made for her. Although she wanted to wallow in her own self pity she didn't have the opportunity as she was being pulled towards the door by the girls, she didn't know where they were going as she had spaced out so she just went along with it.


	27. Chapter 27

After Paul had left it had been a long evening for Stephanie, Aurora and Murphy had been excited about seeing the house and choosing where their Dad lived and Vaughn couldn't have cared less if she tried. As for Stephanie, she was feeling a whole mixture of emotions and she was struggling to deal with them.

Currently she was sat at her desk in work with a whole pile of work in front of her, the only problem was that she couldn't focus on her work so wasn't getting anywhere with it. Time was moving on and she was still not able to fully focus on her work so when there was a knock at the door it was a welcome distraction from trying and failing to focus, "Come in."

Paul knew that technically he should wait until lunch to go and talk to his wife as this wasn't about work but he missed her and after last night he felt like he was in much more trouble with her than he had been before.

Half expecting to be turned away by her Secretary when he arrived he was surprised when she smiled politely and told him that his wife was free. Knocking on the door he could tell by the sound of her voice that she was stressed and knowing that almost made him turn around because all he ever seemed to do these days was add to her stress, even when he wasn't trying to. With his hand on the handle he turned it and there was no turning back now.

She watched the door hoping that it wasn't her Dad but what she did see was worse right now, she was struggling enough without having to see him at work too. Normally their work didn't crossover much at all so why he was stood in front of her right now was both a mystery and an irritance. "Can I help you?"

Making sure to shut the door firmly behind him he walked closer to his wife's desk, "It's about last night. I spoke to the Realtor and she said that I can basically pick what time suits me to go and visit the houses again so I wondered when is good for you?"

"It doesn't bother me; it isn't like I am coming. All I ask is that you don't keep the girls out past their bedtime or take them out of school so just do it whenever you want. Obviously you will need to let Rae know if you are going to do it of an evening so that she can make sure that they are expecting you."

"What did I say?" There was an edge to her tone that gave away her annoyance; he had barely said anything so he really didn't know what he had done that was so wrong.

"What do you mean?"

"You are clearly either annoyed by something or mad at me so I wanted to know what I said wrong?"

He hadn't really said anything wrong; his simple existence was annoying to her right now because there were so many things that she wasn't happy with. "I want you to fight for me." Where had that come from? Yes she was annoyed with him; yes she wanted that, she just had no plans to actually tell him that.

Now he knew what her problem was but it gave him a problem of his own, how to handle it. There were so many things that he wanted to say to his wife right now, he also wanted to shake some sense in to her. How could he possibly fight for a woman who had absolutely no idea what they wanted? He wasn't an idiot, he knew that she was confused and conflicted and he didn't know how to fight through that. "How Steph? How do you want me to fight for you?"

"I don't know! I want to feel like you care enough about this marriage to save it, I want to feel like you will do anything for **ME** , I want to feel important to you again." The tears streamed down her face as she lay her heart on the line, she loved this man and the thought of never being with him again killed her but equally the thought of being with him and him not really wanting it or being in a position where she feared that he would do it to her again also killed her.

Paul knew that he shouldn't do this as he was risking getting a slap as she was clearly not happy with him but seeing his wife that upset hurt and it hurt more knowing that he was the one who had made her this upset. Moving around the desk he wrapped his arms around her pulling her in to his body. When she didn't pull away from him he gently stroked her hair, "There is so much that I want to say to you right now but it isn't fair for me to say it because I know you won't believe anything I say right now." Right now he wanted to tell her that he would do anything for her but he had to settle for holding her.

She was too drained to fight him so when he pulled her close she let him and just leant against him as the tears kept falling.

Once the tears dried up she pulled away from him, "I am sick of crying over you. Ever since I found out that you have cheated on me all I have done is cry, when I think that I have cried my last tear there is something else that I cry over."

Wiping at a few lone tears as they fell down her cheeks he wanted to make it all better but he honestly didn't know how to. His wife had the biggest heart and he had absolutely broken it and destroyed her. "Stephanie you hopefully know that I genuinely had no intention of hurting you like I have. You are the love of my life and each time I see you cry it hurts just that little bit more. I am sure that I have told you this before and even if I haven't I want you to know that seeing you hurting is the absolute worst thing for me, it is worse than not living at home with you all. Knowing that I hurt you this much will forever live with me and no matter what decision you make this has changed me as a person."

Great, she had changed him potentially for another woman; maybe they could thank him for not being able to keep it in his pants forcing the change out of him. "I should get back to my work. Just let Rae know what is happening with the houses."

And there was the wall again. "I will. I will call the Realtor at lunch at make the arrangements. I will let you get back to work now."

His wife didn't even respond to him, she had already turned her attention back to whatever she was working on. With a heavy sigh he left her office, nothing he did or said was making any difference with her, if anything he was just making things worse but it was like she was looking for reasons to think badly of him, not that he could blame her but he was trying so hard to fix things. At least he had a starting point to try and progress things, she wanted him to fight for her so that is what he was going to do, how he was going to do that was still unknown but he had some time to come up with an idea, not a lot of time but a little.

At lunch Paul called the Realtor and arranged to show the girls the girls the houses that evening, that was another evening where he would be doing paperwork late in to the night. Hopefully once he had somewhere to live that wasn't a hotel then he wouldn't be wasting so much time not doing paperwork so that he would have to do it in the evening.

Arriving at the house just before five o'clock he rang the doorbell and waited, Rae was expecting him but he was still worried incase Stephanie had gone home early and he had to face her. When the door opened and it was Rae in front of him and she had a smile on her face he knew that Stephanie wasn't home, "Did you say anything to the girls?"

"I did not; I didn't want to get in the middle of anything."

"Not a problem. I'll go and talk to them now; there is a good chance that Vaughn will stay here with you as she wasn't keen on the idea yesterday." As he entered the house he heard the girls arguing and he was not even going to entertain the idea of that continuing for one second longer, "Enough! You are all big enough and ugly enough to share and to play nicely so I will not stand for you fighting."

"I'm not ugly."

The dirty look that Vaughn received from her older sisters almost made him laugh but he forced the stern look on his face to remain, "None of you are ugly, it is just a figure of speech but I will not stand for fighting. I am here to see who wants to go and see the houses from last night?"

"I guess." Aurora tried to act nonchalant but she wanted to go because she wanted to make sure he lived as close to home as possible.

"Me me me! I want to pick my bedroom."

"You won't be picking bedrooms Murphy; you will be looking at the houses and seeing which one you prefer. Bedrooms will be picked by me once I move in." The one daughter he hadn't heard from one his youngest, "Vaughn, do you want to come with us? You don't have to if you don't want to as Nanny Rae said that you can stay with her."

"I stay please. I still loves you."

He couldn't help but feel like it was his fault that she felt like she had to say that she still loved him. Moving to kneel in front of her he took hold of her hands, "I know you do Princess and I love you too, a lot. It was only an option for you girls to come, you didn't have to and I am not taking offence that you don't want to come okay?"

"'Kay 'kay, love you Daddy." She easily slipped her hands from his and wrapped them around his neck hugging him tightly.

Holding his daughter tightly he pressed a kiss to this side of her head, "I love you too." Not wanting to release his grip on Vaughn just yet he glanced back at his other daughters, "Go and get your shoes on please, we need to leave soon." He held his daughter until she pulled away from him, "We will do something together soon I promise."

"Mm'kay, hopefully Mommy will be home early and she can play with me."

He smiled at his daughter as he stood up, "I'm sure she will be home as soon as she can be."

After hurrying the girls along as they dawdled he eventually got them out of the door and to the first house in enough time that they were able to have a look around them before the Realtor arrived.

When Stephanie arrived home early from work she didn't know what was going to greet her, whether it would be mayhem or silence because every day was different to the last and she knew that Paul was planning to take the girls to view the house soon so anything was possible.

Walking in to the house through the garage the first thing that hit her was the silence and then she noticed that there was no Rae in the kitchen. She assumed that Paul had taken the girls to see the house and that Vaughn had decided to go with them so went to look on the counter for a note.

With her back to the door she didn't see her daughter sneaking in to the room until she wrapped her arms around her legs, "Gotcha!"

She jumped at the contact and looked down at the hands that tightly encircled her legs, "Good evening baby girl."

"Mommy! You home early."

Stephanie ran her hand over her daughter's head as she turned around in her arms, "I couldn't concentrate at work so thought that I would just come home and be with my girls instead."

"Rory and Murphy gone wiv Daddy."

"Oh well, looks like it's just you and me then, if you want me to spend time with you."

"Yaaaay!" Vaughn was quick to release her Mom and grabbed hold of her hand, "Come on Mommy, let's go."

She couldn't help but laugh a little as her daughter dragged her along, "I really need to let Rae go home first before we go and have fun okay?"

The grumblings from her daughter just caused the Nanny to chuckle, "It's okay Steph, you don't need to worry about letting me out or anything, I can see myself out. Have fun you two and I will see you tomorrow."

"Night Nanny Rae."

"Goodnight beautiful. Say goodnight to your sisters for me too please." She waved at the duo as she made her way towards the front door to leave them alone.

"So what are we going to do now Vaughn?"

"Dunno but hurry before they come home."

This was exactly what she needed today, no stress, just relaxation with her daughter.

Having lost all track of time whilst she was playing with Vaughn when the doorbell rang she had to check the time as she made her way to the door. Pulling open the door she smiled brightly as her eldest two both hugged her tightly, "Mommy!"

"Hey you two. Did you have fun with Daddy?"

"You're home early."

"I couldn't concentrate so thought that I would come home early to spend time with you all but it turned out that it was just me and Vaughn. Have you eaten?"

Paul had been standing silently behind the girls just letting them greet their Mom but finally it was his turn to say something. Holding up the bag that he was holding in his hand he gulped, "I spoke with Rae earlier and said that I would bring home dinner for them all once we were done seeing the house so that Vaughn wasn't missing out."

"Oh, come in then and I will go and get some plates out."

The girls quickly took their shoes off before they ran off to find their sister to tell her all about the houses that they saw.

Following Stephanie through to the kitchen he wasn't sure if he was actually invited in but she hadn't taken the food off him so he just shut the front door and took his chances.

She took three plates out of the cupboard and laid them out on the counter before she opened the drawer to take out three sets of cutlery. She was trying so hard not to focus on the fact that he had just brought their daughters back from seeing what could potentially be his new house because that would invoke more emotions inside of her than she was willing to deal with.

He placed the bag with the food in on the counter and began to remove the items from it as the silence slowly got to him more and more, "How was work?" What was that? Was that the best that he could come up with to break the silence between the two of them?

"It was okay I guess, I found it hard to concentrate so just came home early and will finish my work once they all go to bed." Dishing out three plates of food she was about to call the girls when they all came running in to the kitchen, "Girls! What have I told you about running in or near the kitchen? Have you washed your hands?"

"Murphy splashed me!"

Stephanie took that as a 'yes' because it probably meant that they had all crowded around the sink together. "It is only water, it won't kill you. Take a seat and I will bring your dinner to you."

"We will bring it over." Paul didn't wait for his wife to argue with him, he just picked up the remaining plate and took it to the table.

With all of the food on the table his thoughts turned to whether he should leave or not.

"Vaughny you should have come to see the houses, they were so cool."

Her hand stopped moving in the middle of tidying up the packaging on the counter and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, she could do this, she could listen to the conversation about the houses without crying . . . hopefully.

"Which of the houses did you prefer?"

Aurora sat there silently cutting up her food contemplating the houses. "They were both different and had different positives and negatives. I think we will need to talk as sisters and make a decision about what house we prefer once we can tell Vaughn all about them as she wasn't there."

He couldn't find an argument in that logic, at least then it would be a decision between the three of them, "I can respect that. Do you have any questions?"

Stephanie had a question, why did he have to do that to her tonight? Luckily for her she was granted a reprieve from the conversation as the doorbell rang. As far as she was aware they weren't expecting any visitors so it was either going to be her parents or a neighbour wanting something, either was preferable to remaining in the kitchen.

When she reached the door she didn't think to look through the peep hole to see who it was but as she opened the door she really wished that she had, "Patricia, Paul, this is a surprise. What are you doing here?"


	28. Chapter 28

Patricia had had multiple conversations with her husband and shared her concerns that something big was going on because their son was avoiding their phone calls and whenever they spoke with Stephanie she was always distracted and not nearly as bubbly as they were used to. Eventually he got sick of hearing his wife's concerns and told her if she was that worried then she should go and see them and that is where they currently were, stood on the doorstep waiting for them to answer the door.

"Patricia, Paul, this is a surprise. What are you doing here?"

"We have come to visit." The look on her daughter-in-law's face told Patricia that they had made the correct choice in springing a surprise visit on them because she looked nervous, very nervous.

Unsure of what to do and how to handle this Stephanie motioned them in, "Come in, the girls are just eating dinner at the minute so why don't you take a seat in the lounge and I will make you a drink whilst you wait for them to finish."

The older couple did as instructed and made their way in to the lounge and took a seat. As soon as they were sat down she turned to her husband, "Now try and tell me that I am crazy when I say that something is up."

He would, if he could. He had a feeling himself that something was up between their son and his wife but he had tried to play it down for the sake of his own wife but now being here and seeing the way that she had reacted to their appearance he couldn't play it down any longer. "Don't go thinking the worst though, please just keep it all in perspective and understand that it could just be that they are busy with work or something."

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that."

* * *

When Stephanie entered the kitchen she immediately grabbed her husband's arm as he stood at the table talking with the girls and dragged him over to the counter, "We have a problem."

"What is it?" He was going to ask who was at the door but the way she was behaving he thought it best for her to get whatever was on her mind off first.

"Your parents are here. You have told them that we have separated right?"

Fuck, his parents were here. He may have been avoiding their calls for the past few weeks because he didn't have the guts to actually tell them that what he had done.

The shifty look on his face told her that he hadn't. "You have got to be kidding me Paul; you haven't even told your parents what has happened?"

"I knew that they would be ashamed of me." In his defence he hated to disappoint his parents and this was definitely going to disappoint them and he didn't know how to break it to them.

His parents were in the other room completely oblivious to the pain she had gone through over the past few weeks and now they were here and he would be leaving soon. She took a quick look over at the table to see how the girls were progressing with their dinner, "You have about ten minutes to go in the other room and tell your parents the truth before the girls finish their dinner and possibly let something slip. Either that or you wait, hope the girls don't say anything and then speak to your parents once the girls are in bed."

"I'll wait; I don't want the girls to finish early and to interrupt the conversation."

If it was Stephanie's choice then he wouldn't wait but it wasn't, she just hoped that the girls didn't say a word about what was going on otherwise things would get even more awkward. "That's your choice but just make sure that if anything happens your parents know that this is all on you."

"I understand." He didn't know if this was the right decision or not, he knew that there was a chance that one of the girls would let something slip but he was praying that they didn't. "I will take the drinks in and deal with being told off and you can stay in here with the girls."

"Sure." Silently finishing off the drinks she pushed them towards him, "Have fun." She didn't wait for him to say anything before she left him at the counter and walked over to the table, "Are you enjoying your dinner?"

"Who was at the door Mommy?"

"Just some visitors, you can go and say hello to them once you have finished your dinner."

* * *

Reluctantly picking up the two coffees Paul carried them through to the lounge and sat them down on the coffee table, "You should have told me that you were coming."

"We would have, if you answered your phone or returned our calls or texts." She wasn't letting him get away with anything today as she was concerned about her son and his family.

"I'm sorry Mom; I have just been so busy that I have been terrible at returning anything. So how long are you staying for?"

"Trying to get rid of us?" She knew that he wasn't but she wasn't going to go easy on him.

"Of course not, you know I would never do that Mom."

Paul Senior shook his head at his wife, "She is pulling your leg son, ignore her."

Elbowing her husband she glared at him, "Don't tell him to ignore me, he already has been and that is why we are here."

* * *

Murphy was first to finish her dinner and push her plate away, "Can I see who's here now?"

"No, you must wait for your sisters to finish first. I don't want you exciting your sisters or making them dread who is here by your reaction." She knew that the girls would be excited and to be honest she was dreading getting them to go to bed, actually she was just dreading the rest of her night period, her life seemed to be one drama after the next and she was tired of it.

Lost in her own world she failed to see the other two girls finishing their dinner until Aurora was gathering the plates together and was about to pick them all up to take them to the counter, "You don't need to do that Aurora, I will carry all of them over. Why don't you go and see your Dad and see who was at the door, they are in the lounge."

She stood and listened as the girls ran towards the lounge and then screamed with excitement upon seeing their Grandparents, they didn't see them regularly but they did talk to them at least a few days a week. Once she heard their screams of excitement she returned to taking the plates to the counter and cleaning the remaining food from them before she put them in the dishwasher and busied herself with little jobs that could wait but she was just finding any excuse not to go in to the lounge to spend time with Paul and his parents because she knew that they would pick up on something as soon as she entered the room with him because they were smart people.

* * *

Hugging all three of her Grandchildren tightly Patricia couldn't have been happier, well if she knew that her son and daughter-in-law were okay then she would be happier but as she looked at the doorway and she didn't see the younger woman walk in she knew that things had to be bad between them.

"I missed you girls. Have you been good for your Mom and Dad?"

"Maybe? Depends on which one you ask."

All three adults laughed softlyat Murphy's response as both she and her sisters tried to squeeze themselves on to the couch to cuddle with their Grandparents.

"So have you done anything exciting since we spoke last?" Paul Snr. chose that time to speak up hoping that it would get them to settle down.

Settled on her Grandfather's lap Vaughn yawned as she cuddled in to him draping her legs over her sister, "Rory and Murphy went with Daddy to pick his new house."

The second those words came out of his daughter's mouth Paul's body stiffened, they had only been in here a minute and already they were dropping him right in it with his parents.

Although she had heard the little girl say that it was just her Dad's house she really hoped that her Granddaughter had misspoken and they were all moving. "I didn't know that you were planning to move, I thought you quite liked it here."

"Come on girls, we need to get you ready for bed as you have school tomorrow."

Aurora could see what was going on and she could see that her Dad was trying to get out of talking to his own parents so she decided to drop him right in it. "Are you staying to put us to bed tonight?"

If she wasn't a child he would have believed that she had deliberately just dropped him in it but wanting to believe the best and assuming that she didn't realise what she was doing he ignored the comment. "Come on girls. I am sure that your Grandparents will be around tomorrow so give them a hug and say goodnight please. I will go and start the bath and I expect you to join me quickly." He immediately left for the bathroom, he just didn't go straight up the stairs, he went to find Stephanie in the kitchen.

When he saw her in the kitchen he frowned, it was clear that she was trying to avoid his parents by simply finding anything to do to keep herself busy. "I have bad news, both Aurora and Vaughn let slip that things aren't quite as they appear, Vaughn mentioned the house and Aurora asked if I was staying to put them to bed tonight."

"Fantastic, just fantastic. So how do I avoid your parents because I sure as hell am not clearing up your mess for you?" She didn't care if he got offended at that, she was sick of clearing up after him and she just couldn't do it anymore.

Unsure how to take the way his wife was behaving he decided to just ignore the actual behaviour and focus on the words, "You could just come and help bathe and put the girls to bed and then you don't have to."

"I suppose that is my only option if I don't want to be cornered as you put off talking to them." Brushing past him she made her way out of the door walking past the living room door where she could hear the excited chatter of their daughters as they begged their Grandparents to stay for a while as there was so much that they wanted to do with them. Taking the stairs slowly she couldn't help but feel guilty about not wanting to see his parents, they got on so well that normally she really enjoyed their company but right now she just found herself fearing it.

In an attempt to push those thoughts from her mind she focussed on drawing a bath for the girls and getting them ready for bed with some help from Paul before they split up and he read to Murphy, she read to Vaughn and Aurora read herself whilst they made sure her sisters went to sleep and then it was her turn.

Stephanie was the first to be free so she went to spend a little time with her daughter before she went to sleep but as she entered her eldest daughter's room she noticed how she wasn't caught up in her book but looked genuinely worried about something. "Everything okay Rory?"

Shaking her head she shifted in bed looking down at the covers, "I'm in trouble."

When her day couldn't possibly get any worse it may just have. "Why? What have you done?"

"I got Daddy in trouble with Nana Pat on purpose." She hadn't planned to say but it was eating away at her.

"Why and how did you get your Dad in trouble with Nana Pat?"

As her Mom sat on the bed beside her Aurora felt even guiltier because she probably got her Mom in trouble too. "I asked him if he was staying to put us to bed because he was avoiding Nana Pat's question. You always tell me off when I avoid answering your questions and I thought that if I asked that he would answer the question but he just got mad and sent us all to bed so now he is mad at me and Nana Pat is mad at him and nobody is happy."

She didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around her daughter and hold her close, "You aren't in any trouble, nobody is mad at you and I'm sure your Nana isn't mad at your Dad either. Even if she is mad at him it sounds like he deserved it anyway but you don't need to worry about that, it isn't your problem to deal with."

"I just want everybody to be happy again."

"In our own ways we are happy, it may not be 24/7 happiness but there is a lot going on and sometimes stress prevents happiness."

Entering the room Paul smiled at the sight before him, "Room for a small one to get one of those cuddles before you go to sleep?"

Aurora chewed nervously on her lip as she looked up at her Mom, she didn't want to get shouted at.

"Why don't you tell your Dad what you did and then you can have a cuddle before you go to sleep?"

"But what if he won't cuddle me?" She whispered her fear to her Mom; it had all seemed like such a good idea until the guilt started eating away at her.

"If he won't cuddle you then you'll just have to deal with me I am afraid."

The little girl hugged her Mom a little tighter before blurting out exactly what she felt that she did wrong. "I deliberately asked if you were staying to put us to bed so you'd get in trouble with Nana Pat."

"Oh." He had suspected that she had said it to get him in trouble but he had hoped that he was imagining it. Although she had said it to get him trouble he wasn't going to stay mad at her over it, it was his own fault that he was in this situation to begin with. His wife looked apprehensive as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed beside Aurora, "You know that that was not a very nice thing to do don't you?"

She still refused to look at her Dad even though she could feel him sat behind her. "I know and I'm sorry Daddy."

He wasn't sure why she was still refusing to look at him as he thought that she would understand that he wasn't mad. "I'm not mad at you but you really shouldn't do things like that okay?"

"I know Daddy and I'm sorry." Pulling out of her Mom's arms she practically threw herself into his arms, "I'm sorry Daddy, please don't leave me."

Sighing heavily he hugged his daughter tightly, "Baby girl I am never going to leave you or your sisters. I won't deny that I am disappointed in you but I am not going anywhere, I will always be here for you all."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now you really should go to sleep as it is already late and you have school tomorrow."

Stephanie was surprised that he wasn't trying to prolong going back downstairs, she was certain that he would want to avoid this conversation with his parents. However when their daughter made no move to lie down she removed the book from her lap and placed it on the side, "Come on now Aurora, you don't need to be cranky in school tomorrow because you are tired as you didn't go to sleep tonight."

Reluctantly letting her Dad go the little girl slid down in the bed but stayed close to him laying her head on leg.

Paul sighed as he gently stroked her head, he wished that he could take her pain away from her, she was such an amazing little girl and he was so blessed to have her as his daughter so seeing like this really did bother him.

Deciding to leave the two of them alone Stephanie bent down and kissed her daughter's cheek, "Goodnight Rory." Once she had left the room she had a dilemma about what she did, she needed to get a workout in and she wanted to avoid his parents but she also knew that she was being rude and that they were already probably picking up on something being wrong by her behaviour.

* * *

He waited until Aurora was fast asleep before he carefully moved her head to the pillow and covered her properly with the blankets before he left the room. As he left the room he nearly tripped over Stephanie as she sat on the floor, "Comfortable down there?"

"I didn't know where else to go so I thought I would be comfortable as I waited."

Moving to sit across from her on the floor he had to choose his next words very carefully as he knew exactly why she was avoiding his parents but he didn't know why she was acting like she couldn't move around her own home. "Why did you choose to wait up here instead of going to your office or the gym or something?"

"Because I feel like shit for avoiding your parents. You know how much I love and respect your parents and knowing that you haven't told them anything and they have obviously come here in search of answers makes me feel like a horrible person."

It was hard to resist the urge to touch her or to pull her close or pretty much to do anything to comfort her, he knew exactly how much his parents meant to her and that is exactly what made this so hard on him. "My parents won't hold it against you; I will make sure that they understand that it is my fault that they didn't know before now. As scared as I am about disappointing them I think that disappointing you hurt a whole lot more so I will easily be able to handle anything that they have to throw to me. I should go and talk to them and get this over and done with so you can do whatever you want for a while and I'll come and let you know when we are done talking."

If he was talking to his parents then she was going to stay far away from the lounge. "I am going to go and workout so if you need me then I will be in the basement."

Watching as his wife stood up and made her way to the bedroom he was nervous, he knew that this was going to be an incredibly difficult conversation to have and there was no way that he could possibly prepare himself for it.


	29. Chapter 29

As much as he wanted to avoid facing his parents he knew that there was only so long that they would believe that they were putting the girls to bed before they came looking for him.

The walk down the stairs felt like he was walking to his execution, there was no way that this was going to go well and he hated it already. As he got closer to the living room he could hear the mumbling as his parents clearly talked about him so before he lost his nerve his walked in to the room, "Sorry about that."

Patricia watched her son as he sat down as far as he could from them before she looked at the door for her daughter-in-law but she didn't appear to be following, "No Stephanie?"

"She's going to work out so that we can talk; I mean that is why you came here isn't it?"

His Mom nodded her head, "That we did. If you had been answering any of our calls, texts or voicemails then we wouldn't be here right now but unfortunately you have been giving us the silent treatment so we have had no choice but to turn up on your doorstep and force it out of you."

Did his Mom have to try to make him feel worse than he already did? "I know Mom and I'm sorry, it's just that I couldn't face you."

Those four words sent a shiver down her spine, she was almost too nervous to ask him exactly what he was talking about.

Paul Senior took the lead as he knew that his wife had been shaken by his son's words. "So exactly why couldn't you face your Mother? Why have you been scaring your Mom by not answering her calls?"

Slowly taking some deep breaths he had to get some serious nerves for what he was about to tell his parents. After a few minutes of tense silence the words finally left his mouth, "I had an affair."

She heard the words that came out of his mouth but she didn't believe him, there was no way that her son could possibly have done that to Stephanie, not the woman he fought so hard for and went through such hell to be with. "You didn't."

"I did." His Mom had only said two words and he already knew that he had crushed her and she was incredibly disappointed in him.

There were so many things that she wanted to say to him but she really didn't know what _to_ say because she was so disappointed, she didn't know who this person was in front of her because it most certainly wasn't her son. "One night or an actual long term affair?"

This discussion may be even worse than the one with his wife. "An affair. I met her at the Concussion Legacy Foundation and we met up when she was in town."

"How did Stephanie find out? You told her didn't you?" His Mom needed to know that he had had the guts to tell his wife what he had done, the idea of her finding out from the other woman or for her just to have found out would be gutting for her.

The look on his Mom's face told him that his answer to this was a crucial answer and he needed to tell her what she wanted to hear, the only problem was that he wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to hear. "Do you want another drink?" He got up to leave the room to give himself a break from the weight of disappointment now weighing on his shoulders from the looks in their eyes.

"Sit down Paul. If you are man enough to cheat on your wife then you are man enough to admit the truth to your parents. So how did she find out?"

Sitting back down he hung his head in shame he hated himself for this, "She found the credit card bill and worked it out."

Ashamed of her son's behaviour Patricia got up needing to leave the room, "Where is Stephanie?"

"In the basement, she is working out in the gym."

"Thank you."

Paul could only watch as his Mom left the room, she was so mad at him, madder than she had ever been before and he felt terrible for the pain that he had caused everybody.

* * *

When she left the lounge Patricia made her way down the stairs to the basement. Being careful of the various equipment scattered along the walls and on the floor she navigated the short distance to the proper entry of the gym.

Down the bottom of the gym Stephanie was focussed on doing some inverted bodyweights as she pulled herself up towards a bar as Metallica played loudly in the background, this was just an excuse to stay far away from the lounge. It was supposed to be a rest day so she was going to take it easy otherwise Joe would kill her but she had to do something with herself.

Finishing the set she dropped to lay on the floor briefly as she caught her breath before she rolled out from beneath the bar and stood up to get a drink but froze when she saw Patricia stood in front of her. The look on the older woman's face told her that she knew everything so swiping her water bottle up from the floor she went to turn off the stereo, "Patricia, can I help?"

As much as she wanted to just go over there and hug the younger woman despite the fact that she was covered in sweat her feet wouldn't carry her the short distance towards her because she felt the guilt of her son cheating on her shoulders, did they not do a good enough job with him when they brought him up? "I'm sorry."

"You are?!" Why was she sorry? Was it for turning up on the doorstep? Utterly confused she twisted off the cap of the water bottle and took a long swig as she walked closer to her, "What have you done?"

"It isn't what I have done; it is what my son has done. I'm sorry for what he has done to you."

"You have no reason to apologise; you didn't make him cheat on me." As horrible as it sounded Stephanie just didn't have the strength to take on Patricia's guilt also because the weight of her own guilt was already slowly killing her.

"But I do, I have plenty of reasons to apologise. I may not have made him cheat on you but my husband and I clearly did a poor job of bringing him up if he felt like cheating on you was an acceptable option."

She sat down heavily on one of the benches not even sure what to say in response to that, his poor decisions did not reflect on them as parents, not when he was a grown adult. Slowly lifting her head to look at her Mother-in-law she forced a smile, "I don't blame you for anything that happened. I am sorry for avoiding you though; you didn't deserve that at all."

Patricia sat beside Stephanie on the next bench, "Why did you avoid us?"

"Because I didn't know how to face you, I didn't know if you knew about Paul and I didn't like the idea of lying to you because you know I look at you like my parents too and it felt so deceitful so if I didn't talk to you then I wouldn't have to lie to you."

"That is why I knew that something was wrong, I knew that you would only avoid me if you didn't want to tell me something so it would have to mean that something big was happening and when Paul wasn't answering my calls either then I just had to come and find out for myself. I'm sorry for turning up on your doorstep like I did."

It was no surprise that they turned up on the door when Paul wasn't talking to them either but she wished that it hadn't been such a surprise. "It's okay, it's to be expected if you are getting frozen out by everybody."

After a brief but tense silence she asked the one question that she had yet to ask that was bothering her, "How are you coping?"

A dry laugh passed her lips at that question, "I'm just peachy thanks."

"What about the honest answer? It's just you and me here, nobody else will have any idea what went on in this conversation." She just wanted her to open up to her, it was clear that things were harder than she was letting on and she wanted to help her.

"Truthfully I'm terrible, the girls are the only reason that I am getting up most mornings and they are the only thing keeping me going. I feel like I am letting them down by not deciding what I want to do about the marriage but I don't know what to do."

Her heart broke for the younger woman. She knew that it would have hit her hard, it was why she had come straight down here to talk to her to have a woman-to-woman conversation but it didn't make it any easier to hear. "You should have called me; I would have come to help out just to take a load off you."

"I have to be strong for the girls though, they can't see me falling apart when their world is already being rocked by their Father moving out. No matter what happens between Paul and I my focus is the girls and keeping their lives as normal as possible. Anyway, if I didn't have to get up for the girls I probably wouldn't have so would have just stayed in bed."

"Is there anything that I can do for you right now to make things better or easier or to help in any way? We were planning to book in to a hotel and stay around for a few days so we will be here if you need us."

There was no way that she could allow them to stay in a hotel when there were plenty of guest rooms in the house. "Stay here. There is no need to pay for a hotel when there is plenty of space here. Please don't argue on this, I just can't deal with fighting over this."

When she put it like that she couldn't exactly say no to the request, "Of course, we would love to. If we are here then we can watch the kids of an evening instead of the Nanny and it will save everybody some trouble."

She got the feeling that even if she had the energy to fight her on this she wouldn't win so she didn't even try. "Sure, whatever you want. I am sure the girls will be very happy about that anyway, they are always begging to see more of you guys."

"I should leave you to your workout."

"It's okay; I wasn't supposed to be working out anyway"

Looking at the other woman shocked Patricia got up from her seat and started nudging Stephanie on the shoulder, "Come on you, out of here. If you aren't meant to be working out then you will stop working out and I will make sure of it."

Emotionally drained by everything she just allowed herself to be nudged and pushed out of the gym. Once back upstairs she looked towards the living room and sighed sadly, she couldn't face him again today. "I'm going to go and shower and then I'll make sure one of the rooms is ready for you."

"We can do that for ourselves, you really don't need to go in to any trouble for us. Don't argue with me on this, you look like you don't have the energy for it and it really isn't worth wasting what little energy you do have on something as insignificant as this."

Now she knew where Paul got his stubbornness from, his Mother. "Okay fine, whatever you want that will make you happy. I am going to go and take a shower and then I will go and make some dinner."

"Enjoy your shower." She watched her daughter-in-law walk away before she went back to the lounge and immediately smacked her son in the shoulder, "How could you do that to your wife? You have crushed that poor woman."

"I know." And he did know that, he wasn't an idiot and could clearly see the changes in his wife. "As much as I know what I have done to her I don't know how to fix it. Steph told me today that she wants me to fight for her but I don't know how, everything that I am doing and saying is just pissing her off and it is a vicious circle."

"I think you should give her some space, let me talk to her and get a feel for what is going on in her head and what she truly wants from you."

To Paul that was a terrible idea, if he gave her space then she would be even more convinced that he didn't love her and that was the last thing that he wanted to happen. "Sure, let me just give her space and compound in her mind that I don't love her and make her think that I am with the other woman, such a great idea Mom."

"But being around her really isn't helping her either. Paul you did not see her face when we came up from the gym and she looked towards the living room knowing that you were here."

He was so torn, he wanted to fix his marriage but he didn't want to cause his wife any more problems, "Okay fine. Only because you are here and you can keep an eye on her will I do this and stay away. Tell Stephanie I will call every night to speak to the girls and I will try to come over to spend time with them or take them out or something at the weekend but I'll text her to arrange it beforehand." Standing up he knew when the best time to leave was as he definitely was no longer welcome here, "We will have to do lunch or dinner or something whilst you are down."

"Of course we will. I'll call you tomorrow and we can find a time. Have a safe journey Paul."

He hugged both of his parents before he made his way towards the door, "I will. I love you and I really am sorry about everything."

"It's okay; just never do any of it again."

That was a guarantee, he had more than learned his lesson, he wished that he hadn't done it in the first place so repeating it was never going to happen. "I can easily swear on everything that I will never do it again, I just hope that I can fix the mess that I have caused. I am going to get things sorted for my move though and finish some paperwork. Goodnight."

* * *

Once Paul had left Patricia stood up, "Right, I am going to go and make some dinner because I doubt that Stephanie would eat if I didn't. Don't go causing any problems please."

"I will just sit here quietly like a good boy." Paul Senior knew better than to argue with his wife when she was on a mission so if he just agreed with what she said and stayed out of her way then he was on to a winner and guaranteed a quiet life.

Smiling at her husband she knew that she had trained him well. Satisfied that he wasn't going to do anything she headed towards the kitchen to see what Stephanie had in to be able to cook for her.

* * *

Although she had visitors Stephanie didn't hesitate to have a nice long shower just to try to relax her body, after fifteen minutes it wasn't working so she just shut the shower off and climbed out wrapping a towel around herself.

Once she was dried she threw on some yoga pants and a shirt leaving her hair tied in the messy bun she had tossed it up in to before she had gone to shower. Now that she was dressed she had no excuse not to go back downstairs but she did procrastinate a little longer by going to check on each of the girls to make sure that they were still asleep before she did so.

The last step to the stairs felt like it was on fire as she placed her foot on it, just the thought of coming face to face with her husband again sent her mind in to overdrive and she hated it but she couldn't put it off any longer. After a short walk she found herself entering the lounge but the only person in the room was Paul Senior, at that she found herself releasing a breath that she didn't realise that she had been holding in. "Where's Pat? I was going to ask what the two of you wanted for dinner?"

Glancing up from the fitness magazine that he was reading out of boredom having found it lying around on the side he wanted to say that she looked more relaxed than he she had done when he had first seen her but that would have been lying. "Actually Pat is already cooking dinner. I found it to be in my best interest to not argue with her when she said that she was going to start cooking dinner so please forgive me."

How could she be mad at him for something that he couldn't control? She had always known that Patricia had her husband under the thumb so it was not a surprise, "It's okay, don't worry about it. I will go and see if I can do anything to help her, thank you." When she left the lounge for the kitchen she actually could smell whatever was being cooked and it made her hungry.

"I said that I was going to make dinner after my shower."

"I know, I just thought that I would do you a favour as you have been so busy with the girls and everything. You don't mind do you?" Whilst she spoke she turned the meet over with one hand and stirred the vegetables in the water with her other.

Stephanie didn't know why she had ignored Patricia and Paul, she wasn't treating her any differently or acting like her son was an angel and attempting to persuade her to take him back, it was exactly what she needed right now after the way that Paul had been making her feel, unintentionally or not she had still felt terrible. "I don't mind at all. Honestly I was too tired to cook tonight anyway so you are lifting a weight from my shoulders. Can I help at all?"

"Definitely not, just sit down and take a weight off." She knew that she was too tired to cook; she also knew that she hadn't been taking care of herself as a whole so the time that they were going to be spending here with them Patricia was going to make sure that she had three meals a day and took proper care of herself.


	30. Chapter 30

This is for **Jade** , **Sara** , **Sarah** , **Olivia** , **Aidee** and **Mel**.

* * *

When her alarm went off at half past six it was the worst sound in the world to Stephanie, she now had to face her in-laws again after they had been able to sleep on the news they had heard last night and really had an opportunity to digest the information.

Rolling out of bed she quickly jumped in the shower and got dressed before she went to get the girls up to get them ready for school. As Aurora was easiest to wake up she went to her room but instead of pushing the door open the door was already wide open and she could see that her daughter wasn't in her bed, turning around to check on the other girls she noticed as she got to each room their doors were also wide open and they weren't in their beds either.

Slowly beginning to panic about where they were she needed to go downstairs to see if she could find them, as she got closer to the top of the stairs she noticed the sound of excited chatter filtering up towards her. She made her way down the stairs and in to the kitchen immediately spotting the girls sat at the kitchen table with their breakfasts in front of them. "What is going on here? Isn't it a little early for you to be up?"

"I think I accidentally woke them when I got up. I didn't mean to but when was walking back to the room from the bathroom Aurora was coming out of her room soon followed by the other two. I thought it best to let you sleep so I told them that I would get them breakfast whilst you woke up and then as they would be ready for school early they could watch a little television. I hope that you aren't mad."

How could she be mad when she was being so helpful? "Thank you, I really appreciate you doing that." Turning to the girls she noticed them all talking excitedly between themselves still, "And what has you three so excited so early in the morning?"

"Grammy Pat said that her and Grampy are staying all weekend long and that if you don't have anything big planned then they'd take us out."

"What would you like for breakfast this morning Stephanie?" Quickly attempting a change of subject as that was meant to be a secret until she had actually had an opportunity to speak to Stephanie about it she wanted to deflect attention away from what had been said.

She knew what she was doing but there was no point in arguing over it right now, not in front of the girls anyway. "I'll probably just have a protein shake."

If she thought that she was going to get away with just a protein shake she had another thing coming. "So what cereals is it that you fancy this morning?"

She had forgotten what a hassle it was to have parents around during mealtimes as she didn't have a choice but to go along with whatever Pat wanted unless she wanted to start an argument with the girls about why she didn't have to actually eat and why they did. "Whatever you come across is fine, anything for a quiet life."

With a triumphant smile on her face Patricia motioned to the table, "Take a seat, I will bring something over now." She knew that with the girls around there wasn't a chance that Stephanie wouldn't fight with her so she was going to make the most of it so that she could take care of her as much as possible.

* * *

After breakfast Stephanie went to get the girls ready for school. Once they were dressed for school she sent them to go and put their shoes on whilst she went in to the kitchen to check on her Mother-in-law and to let her know that they were leaving. As she walked through the door she sighed heavily seeing her cleaning so thoroughly, "You really don't need to do that, I am sure the kitchen is not that dirty. I spoke to Rae though, she said that she'll pick the girls up from school and bring them back here. I told her that you are staying and that you may want to spend some quality time with them so she may not be needed and she said that is fine, she has to come inside to pick up something that she left yesterday so just let her know if you don't need her and she will leave again."

"Thank you. I think we probably will let her have the evening off so that we can spend some time with the girls, as long as that is okay with you?"

"Just don't give them ice cream only for dinner please."

Tilting her head to the side she gave the younger woman a look that said 'do I look stupid?' as she tried to think of how to phrase it without upsetting the younger woman as she just seemed to be defensive mode at the present moment. "After raising two children of our own and after watching Lynn's kids more times than any of us could possibly count I can guarantee you that they will not even be having ice cream for dessert, they will be lucky if they get a cookie as an afternoon snack. Care to tell me what you are really concerned about?"

"I've got to get the girls to school now. Enjoy your day and just relax, you really don't need to do anything." Before she could be pushed any further on the issue she hurried out of the room, "Come on girls, you need to say goodbye to Grandma Pat and your Grandpa so that we can get you to school."

After rushed farewells and promises that they will still be there when they got home they were all out of the door and on their way for the day.

* * *

Once the girls had been dropped at school she made her way to the office but almost wished that she hadn't when she saw opened her office door and saw her Mom sat at her desk, "What do you want?"

"I had to drop something off for your Dad because he forgot it at home and then I am going in to New York in a bit once the traffic slows down slightly." She ignored the way her daughter snapped at her as she understood that she was under a lot of pressure right now.

"So why did you come in here? Why not bother Dad?" Walking around her Mom she placed her bag on the floor and got herself ready to begin work, once she could actually sit at her desk.

She knew when she was in the way so Linda stood up and moved around to the other side of the desk, "I wanted to come and check up on you to make sure that you are okay."

"Oh yeah, I'm just peachy. There is nothing better than already struggling emotionally thanks to your husband taking your children to see houses for just him to live in and then for your in-laws to turn up on the doorstep completely unaware that your husband has cheated on you but knowing that there is something wrong to make a woman feel **real** good about things." She didn't look up once as she spoke, she didn't want to see pity in her Mom's eyes, she actually wanted people to look at her with something other than pity.

There was the explanation as to why her daughter had been so snippy with her and very un-Stephanie when she had walked in. "How did they take the news?"

"How do you think?" Opening her laptop she started it booting before she shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the back of her chair. "I think Patricia feels guilty for what he did and she is making it her mission to make up for it or something. Even though I did tell her that it wasn't her fault she seems to think that she failed as a Mother but she is wrong, she didn't fail as a Mother, I failed as a wife."

Linda had a strong disapproval for her daughter talking like that, she had been there and done that and she knew that it had absolutely nothing to do with what sort of wife she was. "Stephanie you need to stop saying that. Remember, I have been there and done that and I know that it has nothing to do with the type of wife that you are and I know that you know that too so stop punishing yourself. I am guessing judging by the way that you are behaving that you haven't been able to come to a decision on the future of your marriage?"

"I wish. It is one step forward and five steps back for me right now. I don't have the energy to even think about what the future for us is; with everything that is going on it is one added stress that I just don't have the energy for." If she could make a decision on her future then things would get easier but when at every turn there is a reminder of how far apart they are right now and how much she loved and missed him it was hard to make a rational decision.

"Then don't think about it, just focus on the girls, enjoy spending time with Paul's parents whilst they are here and leave it at that. Clearly it is all still too raw for you after the conversation at the weekend so just stop putting pressure on yourself, you are just making yourself miserable."

She opened her mouth to argue with her Mom but quickly shut it again. Deflated she collapsed in to her chair, she missed being happy and confident, she hated how she now looked in the mirror and analysed every single thing about herself and looked for faults and things that she could change to make herself more attractive to him.

The way that her daughter's eyes had glazed over told Linda that her daughter was now on another planet so if she didn't want to get in trouble with her own husband it was time for her to leave her daughter alone. "Anyway I should get going. Call me if you need anything okay Steph?"

"Hmm?" She had not been paying any attention to a single word that her Mom had just said, she only knew that she had been talking as she had heard her name but she didn't know how long she had been talking for.

"I said that I was leaving. Call me if you need anything Steph."

"Sure, thanks, will do. I love you Mom."

"I love you too."

When her Mom left her office Stephanie opened her emails to check them, anything to distract her and get her out of her head would be nice considering she hadn't exactly had a restful night's sleep the day before.

* * *

As she rounded the corner to reach the elevator Linda crashed straight in to somebody dropping her purse to the floor. Bending down to gather the items from her purse that had spilled out she quickly apologised for her actions, "I'm so sorry, next time I should slow down and look where I am going." It was only when she finished putting everything back in her purse and stood up did she notice that it was Paul that she had crashed in to, "Oh."

It was the first time that he had seen Linda since it had been decided that he was getting a house of his own and he didn't know what to say. She had been there and done it with her own husband but it had never got this bad between the two of them. "Sorry for nearly knocking you over."

"It's okay; it isn't your fault that neither of us can see around a corner. How are you?"

Shrugging his shoulders he glanced around nervously to make sure that they were truly alone, "Okay, I guess. You?"

"I'm better than Stephanie is."

Great, he really didn't need a lecture right now. "What is wrong with Steph?" He had thought about ignoring her statement but the politeness inside of him prevented that.

At least he was showing that he cared still by asking, "It isn't my place to say what is wrong but allow me to give you one piece of advice Paul, keep your new "life" away from Stephanie, you need to be more sensitive about the way that you approach the subject around her because you really aren't helping your cause right now."

"What do you mean? I don't have a new life and I am certainly not flaunting it around Stephanie."

"The house is a start of your new life Paul. No matter that nothing has ultimately been decided she still sees that as you moving on and with everything else going on she could do without you pushing it down her throat."

"I'm not." Well he wasn't, was he? He didn't think that he was pushing it down her throat but maybe he was wrong, maybe he was just too close to see that he was.

As the elevator opened she guided the younger man over to the other side of the corridor where it was a little quieter. "Are you discussing the house with anybody in front of her?"

"Well yeah, I mean the girls can't exactly be told not to talk about it around their Mom can they?"

"But have you actively started conversations about it?"

He had to stop and think about it for a minute and when he did he realised that he had, multiple times. "Oh. I didn't think that it would matter, I mean she knew that I was getting a house, she was the one whole told me that she wouldn't want me moving back in straight away no matter what happened, so I didn't think that she would have a problem with it. She should have said something."

For somebody who had been with her daughter for so long she shook her head, that was such a stupid thing to say. "Just think before you do things Paul. You were the one who caused this mess so if you really want to fix it use your brain more often. I have to go but take my advice and just give Stephanie some space right now."

"I will do, thanks Linda." Why hadn't he noticed any of this? Why did it take two other people to tell him that he needed to give his wife some space? The fact that he hadn't picked up on it scared him, would it even be possible for them to come back from this if he couldn't even tell when his wife needed space?

The short walk to his office felt ten miles long this morning; he almost expected to find Vince in his office waiting to give him a lecture also. Luckily when he opened the door his officer was empty, not that it didn't mean that Vince wouldn't be shouting at him later but if he could avoid that he was definitely going to try to. Collapsing in to the seat at his desk he really needed to focus on work and lose himself in it today, his head was beginning to feel like it was going to explode.

* * *

Stephanie was trying so hard to focus on her work, it wasn't exactly easy when all she could hear was Paul's voice as he spoke to the girls about his new house and then all she could see was your typical American family home with a white picket fence with him stood at the door with a young and pretty woman. Feeling like her head was about to explode she rested it in her hands on the desk but her head quickly snapped open when her office door burst open.

"Stephanie I . . . what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong at all Vince." This was the last thing she needed today, she had already had a lecture from her Mom, well it felt like a lecture, and now she had to face her Dad too? She felt like everybody was lining up to make her feel even worse about herself today.

Closing the door he walked closer to his daughter and dropped the papers in his hand to the desk so that his hands were free, "I beg to differ. When somebody has their head on the desk it generally means they are tired, sick or they have a headache."

"Or they just have so much shit going on in their head that it feels like it is about to explode and they need a rest. Why is everybody so fucking obsessed with my life? Are yours that boring that you need to be all up in my business?"

Vince was taken aback by his daughter's behaviour; this was so far from normal for her that it deeply concerned him. "I think you need to go home, you are clearly in no fit state to be here."

It was getting old fast being told what to do when she was a grown adult and could make her own decisions. "I am an adult, I can decide for myself if and when I need to go home thank you."

"I think you can't. You really don't need to be here right now Stephanie; you are doing yourself more harm than good." He didn't care if she had a mountain of work to do, her mental health was suffering right now and he needed to take care of that.

She didn't understand why he had come in here and was acting like she was a basket case about to fall apart at the seams just because she was resting her head on the desk. "For the final time I will tell you this, I am fine, there is no reason for you to send me home. Even if you did send me home it wouldn't be achieving much because I would only be going home to Paul's parents so it wouldn't exactly be a quiet house. If I had to be anywhere today it would be here so why don't you do us both a favour and back the fuck off and allow me to get on with me work?"

Vince didn't understand the venom in his daughter's voice, he was just trying to look out for her with everything that she had going on right now, he was trying to be a good Father. "Stephanie I love you, I just don't know who you are. Please humour this old man and just get out of here, do anything, go anywhere, just do something for you to blow off some steam because you really do seem like you need it."

"Fine, if it will get you off my back I will leave." Angrily slamming the lid on her laptop shut she began stuffing things in to her bag.

She didn't say another word to her Dad as she packed everything she needed and then picked up the bag ready to leave.

Refusing to let his daughter leave with this much anger towards him inside of her he grabbed her arm as she went to walk past, "Stop a minute, please."

She did as he asked and stopped but didn't turn back to face him, "I have stopped."

"I know that you have a lot going on and I appreciate that you aren't exactly in a happy place right now but you really need to take care of yourself because if you keep going like you are then you will end up in hospital and that is the last place I want you to be."

"I'm not stupid Dad; I won't end up in hospital. I am just a little stressed today with Paul's parents making a visit out of the blue. Now if you will excuse me I have been kicked out and told to go home so I need to do that before I get fired." Yanking her arm free of her Father's grip she stormed out of her office and down the corridor not even saying anything to her Secretary as she left.

Her husband's office was just coming in to view and the sight of it made her want to go in to there and rip shreds off him but the professional part of her won out and she chose not to but it appeared that the universe thought that ripping shreds off him was a good idea as suddenly he appeared in front of her as he exited his office.

* * *

Having to run a contract past Vince he had put it off all morning but as the time ticked by he knew that he really had no choice but to face him so he picked up the contract and exited his office. Immediately spotting his wife he was surprised to see her with bags in hand like she was leaving, "Is everything okay? Are the girls okay?"

"Everything is just dandy. Thanks to you I have been sent home so congratulations Paul, not only have you fucked up my home life but you have fucked up my work life too. I hope that you are proud of yourself." She didn't give him a chance to respond, Stephanie just brushed past him on her way to the elevator.

Paul stood there dumbfounded, he didn't know what to think or what to say, literally everything was a mess and it was all his fault.


	31. Chapter 31

Paul stood there dumbfounded watching as his wife entered the elevator and the doors slowly closed behind her. He was only brought out of his thoughts by his Secretary calling his name, "It's okay, I am fine. I will be back in a minute." Finally walking down the corridor towards Vince's office he sighed when he saw him walking towards him, "I was just coming to see you; I need you to look over this contract."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"Are you okay?" Following his boss and Father-in-law in to his office he couldn't help but be concerned for him as Vince was never that distracted.

There were many ways to handle this situation and right now Vince didn't know which one of them was the right one, he was too shaken by the way his daughter had behaved and the way she had spoken to him. "Why wouldn't I be fine Paul?" Practically throwing the papers in his hand on to his desk he collapsed in to his chair, he wished that his wife wasn't in a meeting right now.

"Because you're acting funny, well funnier than normal." Taking a seat in the chair opposite his boss he wasn't sure if now was the right time to look at the contract or not because if he wasn't in the right head space and the smallest of details was wrong then there would be huge problems once this was signed.

"It's just Stephanie, I have had to send her home because she is not herself at all today and is snapping and being rude and she is not happy about it. What do you want?"

He knew all about her snapping and being rude as he had experienced it for himself but he thought that it was just him that had been on the wrong side of her rough tongue but it seemed that even her own Dad wasn't immune to it which meant things were really bad. "I know what you mean about her mood, I had a run in with her just as she was on her way out. I'm sorry Vince; I think it probably has a lot to do with me not telling my parents and them turning up on the doorstep last night. Please cut her some slack, she is just under a lot of pressure."

"I know!" He may be a busy man but he knew exactly what sort of pressure his daughter was under, even if he was unable to speak with her himself he made sure to get all of the details from his wife who no doubt spoke to her regularly seeing as she gave him regular updates. "I know exactly what is going on in my daughter's life; I just did not expect her to behave like she has today. I can only hope that getting out of here early allows her to clear her mind and she comes back with a clearer mind. So what is it that you want?"

* * *

When Stephanie left the offices she had planned to go home but then she remembered that Patricia and Paul Senior were there and she didn't want to deal with twenty questions so she went for a drive in a desperate attempt to find some way of clearing her mind.

* * *

After his meeting with Paul Vince had tried calling his wife but had to leave a message for her, when he eventually did get hold of her she told him to leave work early and go and check on their daughter so that was what he was doing. It was just after seven when he pulled up outside of the house, the lights were on and obviously people were home so hopefully his daughter would be in a better mood having had time to relax and cool off.

When he knocked on the door he couldn't help but smile as he heard his Granddaughters excitement behind the door but he stopped smiling when he came face to face with Patricia, she was not his daughter.

Despite the girls insisting on opening the door when the doorbell rang Patricia told them that they weren't allowed to as she didn't know who was on the other side, she was hoping that it wasn't her son though. She struggled to open the door with the girls under her feet but as soon as it was opened wide enough that the girls could see who was on the other side she knew as there were loud choruses of 'Pop Pop'. There were many questions as to why the older man was here when Stephanie had yet to come home but she didn't have a chance to ask the questions as he was currently being smothered by his Granddaughters.

There was no greater feeling after a rough day than being surrounded by the love of his Granddaughters so Vince didn't even think about speaking to Patricia as he tried to cuddle them all and give them kisses. Eventually he was able to stand back up and went to say something to her but briefly faltered not really know what to say. "Can I come in and speak with Stephanie please?"

"She isn't here; you should have checked her office."

Opening his mouth to say that he had sent her home hours ago he quickly closed it again, the last thing that he wanted to do was panic his Granddaughters when it was hopefully unnecessary.

The way that his mouth opened and quickly closed resulting in him stood there looking awkward it made her think that there was something she didn't know but should know however he didn't want to say something in front of the girls. "Girls, why don't you go and make sure that Grampy isn't eating all of the frosting whilst we are gone." The girls were quick to rush off to admonish their Grandfather if he was eating it as they had yet to finish decorating the cupcakes that they had made.

Once they were alone she hoped that the other man would be honest with her, "What's going on?"

"Nothing, much. Stephanie has been home right?"

All of her parental nerve endings were on edge fearing the worst from what was about to come, "No, should she have been home early?"

"Yes! I sent her home hours ago as her mind wasn't in the best place so I wanted to check up on her."

"I haven't seen her all day." She tried not to panic but she was worried that the younger woman hadn't been home if she had been sent home from work hours ago. "She's okay, I'm sure."

He knew that the woman his daughter classed as a second Mother meant well but he also knew that she believed that as much as she did. "I'll try calling her."

"Why don't you stay for a cupcake too? Unless you need to get home to your wife?"

The invitation to stay was gratefully received, he would rather be around his Granddaughters for a while in the hope that his daughter would return home at the 'normal' time so as not to raise suspicion or for questions to be asked. "I would like that, thank you."

As he stepped inside Patricia closed the front door behind him, "I will just go and check on my husband but we are in the kitchen when you are ready." Walking away she gave him space and privacy to make the call.

Before he was even alone Vince had his phone in his hand and was looking for his daughter's phone number, he had to know that she was okay. It was so simple to just call his daughter but as he put the phone to his ear and listened to it ring out he realised that was the only easy part, getting her to actually answer his call apparently wasn't going to be that easy as it just rang and rang until it went to voicemail. Without leaving a message he ended the call and placed his phone back in his pocket, maybe she was driving on her way home and she would be here before he knew it? He hoped that she would anyway; he didn't want to think of the potential that she had done something stupid and he had failed to see the signs.

* * *

The intention had been for her to go home but as she drove out of the office car park Stephanie found herself turning in the other direction to home, she didn't know where she would go but she knew that it wouldn't be home. She didn't even know how long she had been driving for before she found herself a quiet place where she could be alone with her thoughts and pulled in to do just that. With almost an entire afternoon of free time she might be able to sort her thoughts out so that they were coherent and she felt better about everything.

Stepping out of the car she wrapped her coat a little tighter around herself as she walked over to a bench and took a seat, just an hour's peace and quiet would do wonders for her sanity and she hoped that the fresh air would also help clear her mind.

One hour turned to two, two turned to three and soon the sun was going down and the light was fading but despite the bitterness in the air and the lack of feeling in her extremities the way that the wind was beginning to pick up and whistle around her was comforting, it made her cold heart feel warm. Getting up from her seat on the bench she moved to stand at the railing looking down at the sea below, the way that the waves smashed against the rocks was hypnotising.

 _Flashback:_

" _Murphy Claire Levesque, put down that stick and stop poking your sisters with it."_

 _Paul couldn't help but laugh as his wife admonished their middle daughter which only got him an icy glare from his wife, "What? I can't help it if I find it funny that her weapon of choice is a freaking stick."_

 _Smacking her husband in the shoulder she rolled her eyes, "Less of freaking will you. I have told you a thousand times not to use that word."_

 _Somehow he always managed to get in trouble with his wife but he wouldn't change it. Despite the way she was glaring at him he reached out and pulled her closer smiling as she didn't resist and instantly placed her hands on his chest._

 _Leaning his forehead on his wife's he stared deep in to her eyes, "I love you."_

 _A blush stained her cheeks as she stared right back in to his eyes seeing the love for her that was held there, "I love you too."_

 _Instinctively she pressed a soft kiss to his lips which he returned and slowly deepened until they were pelted snowballs from the girls and a chorus of 'eww' forcing them to separate._

 _All they had to do was share one look and they knew what the other was thinking, without words being spoken they were both running towards the girls reaching and grabbing for them and smothering them with kisses once they had hold of them as they squealed with laughter and disgust and tried to pull away._

It would be so easy for her to just climb over the railing and jump in to the sea, it would take away all of her pain and she wouldn't have to think about the bigger picture, she wouldn't have to think full stop. The pain that would be left with those she loved would be forgotten easily enough, the girls were young enough that they would just be able to move on with their lives and Paul could be with anybody he wanted and not have to think about how it would look to other people because the only image that they would have of him would be of a perfect husband and they would think that it was great that he was moving on for the sake of the girls. Sighing heavily her grip on the railing tightened, she was strong enough to easily get over the railings and there was nobody around to stop her, maybe she should.

* * *

Vince couldn't help but laugh at his youngest Granddaughter as he grabbed the cloth from the side and wiped at her forehead, "Seriously Vaughn? How did you manage to get frosting on your forehead Princess?"

"It was itching Pop Pop, I has to scratch."

Before she could reach and touch anything else he gently took hold of her hands one by one and cleaned them thoroughly so that there were no accidents, "There you go, you are all cleaned up now and when your sisters are done they can wash their hands in the sink but for now why don't you go and sit at the table or go and watch some television with your Grandpa in the other room."

Leaving the older two safely at the counter finishing off the last few cupcakes Patricia and Vince moved to the sink to wash out the dish that they had finished with she looked at the other man, "So?"

"I don't know, she didn't answer my call. I have discreetly tried to call her a couple of times since but I haven't managed to get her to answer."

As much as she didn't want to ask the question and actually put the words out there she couldn't help the fear that gripped her stomach. "You don't think that she has done anything stupid do you?"

The words hung in the air like a dark cloud surrounding him, he had been thinking it but he didn't want to say it out loud however she had. "I hope not, it would kill me because it will be all my fault."

"It won't be." The last thing she wanted was for him to blame himself, hopefully they were just panicking over nothing but it was really hard not to the state that she had been in lately.

"It will feel like it is. I was the one who sent her home from work; if I hadn't then she wouldn't have potentially done something stupid. She just needs to call or come home already; I can't handle this not knowing."

"Pop Pop, Grandma, we're done."

The conversation was cut short as they went back to inspect the cupcakes before they helped the girls down from the chairs that they were standing on so that they could clean their hands and the adults could clean the bomb site that used to be a kitchen.

* * *

Time was getting on and the girls were noticing that their Mom wasn't home, they also noticed that Vince was sticking around which was unusual. "Where's Mommy? You came to see her ages ago."

Paul Snr knew that Vince and his wife had been speaking about Stephanie and he had a feeling that internally they would be panicking to come up with a plausible explanation so he saved them the trouble. "Your Mom is running some errands and it is obviously taking longer than she expected. We should get you three in the bath so that your Mom doesn't think we have been too slack."

"Do we have to?" The whining from the girls told him that his diversion tactic had worked like a charm and they were no longer worried about Stephanie not being there but about staying up for longer.

Suddenly the sound of the garage door opening could be heard and everybody practically dived for the door as fast as they could to see who it was.

"Mommy!" The one word in the English language that was guaranteed to put the adults at ease filled the house and none of them could have been happier.

As Vaughn wrapped her arms around her Mom she squealed and jerked back, "You're cold Mommy. Have you been in a freezer?"

Murphy sniggered at her younger sister, she was so dumb and she was so smart, "Don't be dumb Vaughnie; Mommy hasn't been in a freezer as that's just for food stupid."

"Hey hey hey! No calling anybody dumb or stupid in this or any house."

The way that Vince bellowed his statement loud enough to make the girls jump but not loud enough to scare them had the desired effect and they all quietened down, "Sorry Pop Pop."

"You should be. Now why don't you go and make sure that the lounge is tidy before you go and have your bath and give me a minute to talk to your Mom."

"Yes Pop Pop." Turning back to their Mom they all looked sad, "Missed you Mommy, love you."

"I love you too babies." She knew that this wouldn't be good, she could see it on her Dad's face so she just wanted it over with as she wasn't in the mood.

Once the girls left the room Vince shut the kitchen door and tried to rein in his anger. Turning back to face her he noticed the way she still had her coat on and was wrapped up in it, "Where the hell have you been? Patricia and I have been scared to death."

"How long have you been here?"

"Not an answer." He had to calm down or she wouldn't answer him at all so inhaling deeply he slowly exhaled before trying again, "I'm sorry, I have just been worried. I came by about seven because I was worried about you. Where were you Steph?"

"I went for a walk." Despite how cold she was she shrugged off her coat and tossed it on to the counter so that her Dad didn't get too suspicious about it all.

When did she go for a walk and where was she for the other like five hours? "Where exactly did you go walking if you are only just getting home now and you left work early this afternoon?"

"What is this? Twenty questions?"

Walking over to his daughter he took hold of her hand but jumped when he felt how cold they were, "Jesus Christ Steph, did you get frost bite? You are ice cold. I am only asking the questions as you dropped completely off the grid and nobody could get hold of you and you've only just turned up again."

She ignored most of what her Dad said as it suited her to just forget about it and not answer the questions. "I left my phone in my bag in the car and I haven't touched it in hours so I just haven't seen any messages or anything. I'm sure that I didn't miss anything important."

"No, of course it was nothing important, only me trying to make sure that you were alive. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I will be even better when you stop asking all of these questions and let me go and put my daughters to bed."

All he could do was raise his hands in defence, "Fine, okay, whatever you say. I'm sorry that I was worried about you."

"Thanks Dad." Quickly hugging the older man she made her way out of the kitchen looking for the girls to take them up for a bath.

He stood watching her as she left the room, now he had unsuccessfully questioned her it was time for him to leave before she kicked him out. He was just about to walk out of the room when Paul Senior walked in and shut the door. "I am under strict instructions from my wife to find out what you know."

"In summary, nothing. All she would tell me is that she went for a walk, I know nothing more than that and she was incredibly evasive about that. Her hands are like blocks of ice though so tell your wife to make sure that she warms up somehow please. I need to go before she gets annoyed by my continued presence. The girls have my number in their private little phone; call me if there are any problems."

"Will do, thank you Vince."

* * *

Meanwhile as Vince was preparing to leave Stephanie was preparing to get the girls in the bath as Patricia was going bedroom to bedroom setting out their pyjamas on the bed for them along with doing a little tidying of their beds so that they would be nice and warm as they slept.

Helping the girls in to the bath one by one as they insisted on sharing the bath tonight she then sat on the toilet lid to make sure that they didn't start fighting so that nobody got hurt. "Did you have a good day?"

"Daddy didn't call."

"Daddy said he would call every night but he didn't call us tonight. Doesn't he love us anymore?"

Aurora rolled her eyes at her younger sisters, "He doesn't love you two but he does love me, he loves me so much more than he ever loved you."

"That's so meeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnn."

Rubbing her temples she was beginning to regret not climbing over those railings now. "Fine. If you find my company to be such a problem then why don't you just tell your Grandma to call your Dad and let him know that you want to live with him."

As much as she shouldn't take it out on the girls all she ever seemed to hear from them was complaints about not seeing or hearing from their Father and she just wasn't in the mood to deal with them tonight, not when she had been so close to just ending it all. Silently getting up from her seat on the lid of the toilet she stormed out of the room and walked the short distance to her bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her.


	32. Chapter 32

Patricia had been finishing off in Aurora's room when she heard a door slam and winced, she was going to have to see which one of the girls had done that so left the bedroom and made her way to the bathroom. As she entered the bathroom she froze in the doorway, where was Stephanie? The thought of panicking the girls came to mind so she tried to keep it simple and upbeat, "Did your Mom forget something?"

All three of the girls had had it drilled in to their heads to be very careful in the bath and not to move without adult supervision but even though she was oldest and now in charge of her sisters she wasn't about to get out of the bath so just made them sit down and hoped that their Mom would come back soon.

When her Grandma appeared in the doorway she was so relieved as it meant that they would be okay. "Mommy's sad, she said that you should call Daddy and tell him that we want to live with him."

"Do you though? Do you want to live with your Dad?" If she hadn't already known that something was up with Stephanie then she would now as it sounded like she had really snapped at the girls.

All three girls shook their heads, "No."

"We only asked why Daddy hadn't called us."

Slightly distracted by her evening Patricia took a seat but didn't reply, nothing was making any sense and she didn't know how to fix it.

"Is Mommy going to kick us out and make us live with Daddy?"

"No, of course not." She wanted to believe that, she really did want to believe it but she was struggling to, a lot of things were happening at the minute which she would have thought would never happen so she didn't know anything any more it seemed but she was going to try everything to keep things as stable as possible for the girls. Shutting down any further questions from the girls she focussed on turning their attention to enjoying their bath before she helped them climb out one by one and made sure that they dried off thoroughly before she sent them to go and get in to their pyjamas whilst she quickly ran downstairs.

Patricia was grateful that her husband was somewhere other than the lounge when she went to get her phone because she really didn't know what she would say to him when she saw him next. Making her way back up the stairs she called all of the girls in to Aurora's room as that was the furthest from Stephanie's, only when they were settled nicely on the bed did she call Paul and crossed her fingers that the girls did not mention what had just gone down.

* * *

He had a mountain of paperwork to get done as he prepared to move in to his new house but that hadn't stopped him trying to call Stephanie to speak to the girls, he had called and called and there was no answer, he knew that she was mad at him but he really hadn't expected her to block him from speaking to their daughters. The feeling of getting near the bottom of his pile of paperwork was satisfying but his phone ringing before he managed to finish was irritating. When he picked up the phone and saw his Mom's name he was confused, why was she calling him? Dropping his pen he picked up his phone, "Yes Mom?"

"Hi, do you have time to talk?"

"I always have time to talk to you." His stomach dropped with her question though, nothing good ever came from that question.

She moved to the bed and put her phone on to speaker before she handed it to Aurora who was sat in-between her sisters, "Say hello."

Together all three girls spoke up, "Hello."

The sound of his daughter's voices was like music to his ears, "Hi girls."

* * *

Senior had followed his wife upstairs after he had called her name when she had been downstairs and she hadn't answered he hung around outside of Aurora's room to speak with his wife but then noticed that she was alone with the girls, where was Stephanie?

* * *

Lying on her bed curled up to a pillow for comfort facing away from the door she wasn't that bothered about the girls, she knew that Patricia and Senior were around and they would take care of them and probably call Paul for the girls to go with him, or maybe that would wait until he moved in to his house.

Her silence was broken by a knock at the door, she thought about ignoring it but then thought better of it incase it was something important, "Come in."

Silently walking in to the room Senior shut the door behind him and just stood there silently for a moment.

She had fully expected the bed to bound as the girls clambered on to apologise or smother her with cuddles or something but even when nothing happened to the bed she didn't turn around to see who was there.

"What's going on?" He had patiently waited for a few moments for her to say something but when she didn't he just had to break the silence to know what was going on as this behaviour was not like his daughter-in-law at all.

The only response she gave him was silence; she honestly didn't know what to say to him so just said nothing at all.

He didn't want to push her to talk if she didn't want to, he just wanted to be there incase she did decide that she wanted to talk to him or somebody. The last thing he expected to hear were the seven words that eventually broke through the silence in the room, "I thought about ending it all today."

Senior immediately thought about letting his heart rule his reaction but he restrained himself not wanting to go over the top and for her to clam up on him when she felt comfortable enough to open up to him. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Why wouldn't I? The pain feels like a giant black cloud that is getting darker and slowly smothering me, ending it all would have put an end to all of that and I'm sure everybody would be happier if I wasn't here."

He actually felt sick listening to her open up to him; it truly scared him to know exactly how dark a place she was in right now. "You do know that isn't true right? The girls would miss you terribly and so would myself and Pat and your own family. It will get better, it will get easier, you just have to give it time."

How much time was she meant to give it exactly? She just didn't have the energy to survive being suffocated by the pain much more. "Except I don't have the time or energy to spare on surviving the pain whilst I wait for it to pass. I don't want a quick fix, I just want a fix."

Moving to sit on the edge of the bed he placed his hand on her leg, "I promise that it will get better, you just need to get through this initial phase and then it will get better and you will wonder what the fuss was about. You are a strong woman, no matter what you think of yourself I know that you are stronger than you are giving yourself credit for right now."

"I almost regret not jumping. I come home hoping to spend some really nice quality time with the girls but all they care about is Paul, they would be just as happy if I wasn't here."

He thought that she would have been happier once he reassured her but she was in such a dark place that it seemed impossible for her to cheer up and it concerned him. "Believe me when I say this but the last thing the girls actually want is to lose you. Right now they are taking you for granted as you are always here, to them their Father is their focus because he isn't here so that is why they seem to always care about him and not about you but believe me when I tell you that they love you a lot and would miss you if you weren't here. When we were making cupcakes earlier all they could talk about was wanting you to get home and to show the cupcakes off to you."

* * *

Paul knew that it was getting late so he didn't want to keep the girls on the phone long but it was nice to hear their voices although none of them were as bright and bubbly as they normally were but he put that down to the time of day. "You should go to bed as you need lots of sleep but I will talk to you tomorrow okay?"

"Okay Daddy. Miss you, love you."

"I miss you and love you too, night girls."

As soon as the room was silent and it was clear that Paul had ended the call Patricia took her phone back, "Come on now girls, it's time for you to go to bed and get some sleep."

"But what about Mommy?" With their younger sister having asked the question both Aurora and Murphy were quick to ask the same question of their Grandma.

She wanted to find an excuse to keep the girls away from their Mom but she didn't have one, she didn't think, 'I don't want her to get angry' was something that they would really understand. "I don't think she is feeling very well so she is probably asleep."

"That's okay; we can kiss her goodnight and quietly leave just like she does for us."

It wasn't like she could find any sort of excuse to stop them, especially when they were all giving her a serious case of puppy dog eyes, she struggled to say 'no' to her Grandchildren at the best of times but when they did that she just couldn't do it. "Just be very quiet." All she could do was cross her fingers and hope for the best as they all clambered off the bed and practically ran out of the door.

Coming to a screeching halt outside the Master bedroom Aurora turned to her younger sisters and put her finger to her lips, "Remember, we have to be very quiet so tip toe around." Slowly turning the handle she pushed the door open trying to be as quiet as possible so that they didn't wake her if she was asleep.

* * *

The sensation of her bedroom door opening had Stephanie clamming up, anything that she had planned to say she stopped herself saying because she didn't want to be saying something for the wrong person to hear.

Seeing her Grandpa sat on the edge of the bed confused Aurora, she wasn't expecting to see him but it looked like her Mom was asleep but she didn't stop tip toeing around the bed.

"What are you doing Aurora?"

Quick to admonish the older man she shook her head at him, "Shh Grampy, you'll wake Mommy. We just want to give Mommy a kiss goodnight before we go to bed."

He opened his mouth to reply to her but soon realised he had nothing to say in response, hat could he possibly say to that? It wasn't like they were going to do anything bad so it would be up to Stephanie if she pretended to be asleep or not.

Tiptoeing around the bed the oldest of the three girls kissed her Mom on the forehead, "Love you Mommy. Feel better soon so we can have lots of hugs." She knew that when her Mom was sick she wasn't as cuddly so the sooner she was better the sooner she could have her hugs back.

She wanted to continue to pretend to be asleep but hearing her daughter say that made her feel guilty. Her eyes snapped open to look at her daughter, "What are you doing here?"

"We came to say goodnight before we went to bed. Love you Mommy."

Reaching for her daughter she was grateful when she stepped forward allowing her to pull her on to the bed, "I love you baby girl."

Before she knew it the bed behind her was bouncing and her youngest daughters were pulling at her arm, "We're here too Mommy, we love you."

Keeping one arm tightly around Aurora she carefully rolled over to look at the other two girls, "I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you were here. I love you both too, very much."

Whilst Murphy took up the space right next to their Mom Vaughn practically draped herself over Stephanie's stomach so that she could get as close to her as possible, "Feel better Mommy."

As close as the girls were to her right now she didn't want them to move away, she wanted them to stay this close all night as it made her feel better. "Why don't the three of you stay in here tonight?"

"Really Mommy?!"

All Senior and Patricia could do was share a look, he knew exactly what his daughter-in-law was doing and it worried him that she thought that doing that would help because he knew it wouldn't, it was like putting a band aid on a broken limb, it would do nothing.

"Of course you can. We need to get under the covers though so that you don't freeze to death but you're welcome to stay here with me if you want."

All three girls were quick to disentangle themselves from their Mom and to scramble under the covers, "Hurry up Mommy, we waiting."

"Okay okay." Standing up she needed to get rid of her in-laws, "I am going to have an early night with the girls, you don't mind do you?"

"What about dinner?" Patricia would forever be a Mother first and everything else would come behind that as she tried to keep her family fit, healthy and well fed.

She hadn't even thought about dinner, she didn't even care about food either but she was going to have to lie her way out of this if she didn't want a lecture. "It's okay; I had a cooked dinner and had a little something to eat before I came home."

"Well as long as you have eaten. Come on Senior; let's leave them all to sleep. Goodnight girls."

All three girls cheerfully waved to their grandparents as they left the room before they began to impatiently wait for their Mom to climb back in to bed.

Slipping in to the bathroom Stephanie changed in to something a little more comfortable before she climbed in to bed with her girls, she actually hadn't eaten since breakfast as she had no appetite for food but they didn't need to know that.

* * *

Senior and Patricia walked down the stairs in silence, there was so much that they were both thinking that they were struggling to put it in to words but they had yet to eat dinner so she was going to whip them up a little something and leave some leftovers in the fridge incase Stephanie did decide that she was hungry and wanted something to eat when they had gone to bed.

Although her husband wasn't the loudest of people Patricia found his silence to be even more unnerving than ever tonight, it could have been because she was so worried about Stephanie but whatever it was she just had to say something. "What is on your mind Paul? I know you are a quiet man but there is something about your demeanour that unnerves me."

Did he tell his wife that Stephanie had contemplated suicide or not? If he didn't tell her he would feel guilty for keeping it from her if she did do something stupid but if he did tell her and she let it slip to their daughter-in-law would she then hate him forever for it? For the sake of her health and for the girls he needed to tell somebody, he just didn't know who to speak to about it.

"Paul, what is going on? Why are you being so quiet? You are scaring the living daylights out of me."

Even if he wanted to keep it quiet there was no way that his wife was going to let him off now. "Stephanie told me that she nearly committed suicide today."

"What?!"

"Shush, you don't want to draw attention to this conversation."

There was little chance of Stephanie hearing that but she took his point on board and lowered her voice. "When, where, why?"

Maybe it was because she had told him why but he just felt like that question was stupid as it was so obvious. "I don't know where, I just know that it was earlier today and it was because the pain is too much for her. I don't know how to fix this, to fix her. The girls need her but she doesn't seem to believe that, she seems to believe that they would be happier without her here. How do you convince somebody that is in that dark a place that everything they think is wrong, that her daughters do need her and her family do want her here?"

That was the billion dollar question, how did they make her see that there was a light at the end of the tunnel and that she had plenty to live for?


	33. Chapter 33

It was a very long night for Stephanie; she had hoped that having the girls there with her in bed would somehow help her sleep really well but if anything she slept worse than she had in weeks. She was sure that the lack of sleep wasn't helping her mood either but there was nothing that she could do about that.

Unfortunately due to having all three girls in bed with her she was unable to get up and have a shower and go and wallow in some coffee, she had to lay there until the alarm went off and then she could essentially finally push her way out of bed to go and lock herself in the bathroom to shower.

* * *

When their Mom left them all alone in bed it left the girls to wake up on their own and once they were and they realised that they were all alone they rolled out of bed to go and find somebody.

* * *

Patricia and Paul had stayed up late talking trying to come up with some way of helping Stephanie, they hadn't come to any sort of conclusions by the early hours of the morning so they went but just because they went to bed it didn't mean that Patricia got any sleep because she didn't. By half past five in the morning she was bored of just laying there listening to her husband snore so she quietly got out of bed and went downstairs to work on breakfast.

It was just about an hour later when she first heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs, she wasn't sure if it was Stephanie or the girls but she would soon find out.

Aurora was first to walk in to the kitchen closely followed by her sisters. The second that she spotted the stack of pancakes on the top her eyes widened, "Pancakes!"

All three of her granddaughters rushed the counter and went to grab a pancake from the stack but she pulled the pancakes towards her and out of their reach, "Now now, you know that you don't eat your breakfast by just grabbing the food off the counter like that. Go and sit at the table and I will bring it over to you."

Obeying their Grandma incase she took away the pancakes all three girls rushed to take a seat at the table eager to tuck in to their pancakes as they hadn't had pancakes in what felt like forever but was only a few days.

Bringing the plates to the table one at a table she had given them each a couple of pancakes along with a sprinkling of fresh fruit and there was also a collection of sauce bottles on the table that they could cover the pancakes in if they wished. "Eat these and when your Mom comes down you can have more if she agrees and you are still hungry."

The older woman busied herself tidying up the little mess she had made in the kitchen whilst she waited for Stephanie to come and join them. In preparation for her arrival she had made sure that she could pour her a cup of coffee or her daughter-in-law could make herself a protein shake but no matter what option she went for she was not going to get out of eating actual breakfast because she was convinced that that was one thing the young woman was not doing, eating.

* * *

After she had showered Stephanie wrapped a towel tightly around herself to go and get some clothes to dress but as she walked in to her bedroom she noticed that her bed was empty so all of the girls had obviously gone either back to their bedrooms or they had gone downstairs. If she could escape out of the window and just disappear with the girls for the day she would but she knew that it wasn't practical and it wouldn't solve anything either. Reluctantly dressing in some jeans and a vest top she grabbed a slightly oversized hoodie to throw on top when they went out before she went to investigate where the girls were all at.

Senior had entered the kitchen not long after the girls so was currently sat at the table with them discussing their plans for the day which just involved their dance classes for definite but they were talking all over each other talking about what they wanted to do and not eating their breakfast. "Girls do you want to eat your breakfast please? Be good girls and eat it all up before it goes ice cold and you decide that you don't want it."

When Stephanie walked in to the kitchen she saw her daughter's sat at the table quietly tucking in to their breakfast whilst Paul's Mom was moving around the kitchen doing whatever she doing and his Dad was sat at the table. "Morning."

Spinning around on the spot Patricia smiled at her daughter-in-law who looked exhausted, like she hadn't slept a wink. "Good morning. Help yourself to pancakes. I have given the girls three pancakes each and told them they can only have more if they are still hungry and you say that it is okay."

"It's okay, I'll just have a coffee thanks."

Except she wouldn't, over her dead body would she go without dinner the night before **and** without breakfast this morning. "No you won't. You will sit down and have pancakes, toast or cereals, those are your three options and you will eat one of them." She was done playing nice, she would force feed her if she had to.

Aurora knew how her Mom liked her pancakes so putting down her own knife and fork she got up from the table and went over to the counter where the pancakes were, reaching across she managed to pull a plate towards her which she placed three pancakes on before climbing on the stool so that she could reach the fruit and pile some of that on top of the pancakes, she could feel all of the adults' eyes on her as she worked but she didn't worry about it as she finished her Mom's breakfast. Carefully climbing off the stool she took the plate over to the table where there was a knife and fork laid out and placed it down, reaching as far as she could across the table she eventually managed to reach the maple syrup, with a little help from Murphy, so that she could place that with the plate also. "Breakfast's ready Mommy. Eat up because we've got to get ready for dance."

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry at her daughter's actions, she knew that she always joked that she was a little Mom but this was too much. There was a reason that she hadn't stopped her whilst she was in the middle of making her little breakfast, she wanted to see who she was doing the plate for, she just hadn't imagined that it was going to be for her.

The way that her daughter-in-law didn't move and now the girls had stopped eating and were staring at her made Patricia nervous as she expected the girls to kick off any second. "Would you like coffee or orange juice with your pancakes Stephanie?"

"Coffee please." Her feet carried her over to the table and she took a seat, "Thank you for doing this Aurora, you didn't have to though as I was going to do it myself."

She knew that her Mom wasn't going to because she had been skipping meals a lot, that is why she had done it. "It's 'kay Mommy, it's 'bout time somebody took care of you."

Swallowing the lump in her throat she silently picked up her knife and fork, there was nothing that she could possibly say in response to that that wouldn't result in her crying her eyes out.

* * *

Patricia had watched the interaction with great interest and she couldn't help but feel that her daughter-in-law wasn't hiding things from her daughters as well as she thought she was and she was worried what that realisation would do to her so quickly changed the subject. "Stephanie, I don't know how you feel about this but I wondered if it was possible for me to accompany you as you took the girls to their dance classes please? It has been such a long time since I have seen them dancing it would be really nice, if possible."

The excitement on the girls' face at the prospect of their Grandma seeing them dance was too much for her to say no to so she simply nodded her head, "Sure."

"Thank you, I appreciate that. Come on girls, you need to finish your breakfast like good girls because we need to get you ready for class."

The room was filled by the excited chatter of the girls as they spoke about getting to show off to their Grandma, the only person in the room who wasn't excited or even remotely happy was Stephanie.

* * *

When they got to the dance studio Patricia was pulled along with the girls as they wanted to show her things but that was okay with Stephanie as it allowed her to blend in to the background and not be bothered by anybody.

"Ah, the joys of Grandparents visiting, the parents always get forgotten."

Jumping at the sound of the voice she forced a smile, "Yeah. I don't mind though, the girls are happy and I see them every day anyway."

* * *

It felt so nice for Paul to be packing up his hotel room for the last time, he wished that it was because he was going home to his wife and family but unfortunately no progress had been made on that front but hopefully soon.

Looking back at the hotel room for one last time before he shut the door he was happy to be shutting the door on that part of his life and now he could focus on being a better Father and hopefully trying to win his wife back.

* * *

By the time the girls went to bed on Saturday night Stephanie was exhausted so naturally she went straight down to the gym to work out, she knew that she wasn't going to sleep anyway so there was no point in going to bed.

* * *

Paul spent Saturday settling in to his new house and buying some food and drink so that he had something there if Stephanie allowed the girls to come and stay with him.

Come Sunday he really didn't have a whole lot to do so decided to ask his parents if they wanted to come and see the new house, he had to be discreet about it though because he didn't want to make Stephanie even angrier with him than she already was as he had an inability to do anything right in her mind.

 _I was wondering if you wanted to come and see my temporary home? I'll come and pick you up if you do._

He didn't have to wait for long to get his response and it was exactly what he expected.

 _We would love to. Text us when you're outside and we will come out and meet you._

Now that they were going to see Paul's house Patricia and Senior had to discreetly get ready to leave so that they didn't draw attention to themselves and they could sneak out of the house without the girls noticing, obviously she would find an excuse to give Stephanie but the girls didn't need to know anything.

When her phone beeped Patricia was quick to look at the screen to read the message and discreetly nodded in her husband's direction, now to find an excuse to get away from them all. Suddenly hit by a wave of inspiration she bent down to whisper in her daughter-in-law's ear, "We are going to go for a walk and leave you alone with the girls for an hour or so, enjoy yourselves."

"You don't have to do that."

"It's okay; we have been under your feet enough so I'm sure that you will enjoy the break."

As her Grandparents moved to leave the room Vaughn wandered over to the window to watch them leave but instantly spotted her Dad's car, "Daddy's outside!"

Patricia froze in the doorway; they weren't supposed to know that Paul was here.

"Are you going out with Daddy?" It was an innocent enough question from Murphy but it was such a loaded question for her Grandparents to answer. "Is Daddy showing you his new house?"

Her Grandmother wanted to stop her middle Granddaughter from talking as she didn't want to torture her daughter-in-law as she loved her dearly. There was no way she could hide the entire truth from her so she just had to be somewhat honest, "Yes, we are going out with Paul."

"Why don't you tell him to come in for five minutes?" Unless she wanted to spend her afternoon listening to her daughters talking about their Father she just had to get the pain out of the way.

"Are you sure?"

She wasn't sure at all but if she didn't agree then she would only suffer for it, "Sure."

Rather going out to the car and inviting him in the older lady just picked up her phone and sent her son a text.

Anxiously waiting in the car Paul wanted his parents to hurry up before Stephanie saw him and told him off. He didn't dare look in the direction of the house incase his wife appeared at the window.

When his phone beeped he glanced down at it, all he could see was his Mom's name and he had a sinking feeling, this was not going to be good.

 _They all know you are there so Steph said you should come in._

He knew that this was not going to go well, he just had a sinking feeling as he climbed out of the car and walked up towards the front door.

Murphy was already at the front door waiting for her Dad before he even got out of the car so when he knocked on the door and Patricia opened the door she was quick to throw her arms around him, "Daddy!"

Hugging his middle daughter tightly he sighed softly, he hated these moments because he got them so infrequently, "Hi there Princess." He wanted to get in to the house to see the other girls so picked Murphy up and carried her through to the lounge before he set her back down on the floor, "Hi girls."

Vaughn rushed over to give her Dad a hug whilst Aurora stayed sat on the floor doing the puzzle with her Mom, she was already sad so she wasn't going to abandon her for her Dad.

"Whatcha doing here Daddy?"

Well this was awkward, he had already been told to stop discussing the house around Stephanie so how did he get himself out of this one? Realising that there was no way out of it he had to be discreet, "I was just going to show my parents where I'm staying."

"Can we come please?"

"Don't you want to be here spending time with your Mom?" He didn't want to tell them that they couldn't but he didn't exactly want to encourage it either because he knew that he would end up even further in Stephanie's bad books.

"Mommy can come too; we can show her our bedrooms."

Before Stephanie could send him a death glare thanks to Murphy's big mouth he needed to cool things down. "They are not your bedrooms kiddo; they are rooms with beds in. At no point did I ever say that they were your bedrooms so less of that talk please. If your Mom wants to come and see the house then she is more than welcome but neither myself nor you guys should be attempting to pressure her in to doing it."

Simply by him saying that was angering her, it sounded like he was trying to make sure that she didn't see the house but it had the opposite effect of her now wanting to see it. "It's fine. If the girls want to show me the house so badly it would be rude for me not to come and see what all of the fuss is about. Unless there is a reason that you don't want me to come over right now?" She couldn't help but wonder if maybe he had a new girlfriend waiting at the house to introduce to his parents and that was why he wasn't keen for her to join them.

"There is no reason; I just didn't want you to feel under pressure to come over and to bring the girls." There was something that she clearly didn't believe him on but he wasn't sure what. "Why don't I take the girls with me and then it gives you time to get ready and you can follow us over?"

That would be fine with her as there would be no way the girls could keep it quiet if he did have another woman there or he told her to get out before they arrived, "As long as your parents are okay with that then I would appreciate it. Just write down the address and we'll follow you over once I manage to lock the house up."

Patricia and Paul Senior were just confused about what was going down so they were going to agree to anything, this had taken a very unexpected turn and neither knew exactly what to make of it.

* * *

Thirty minutes later and Stephanie was pulling up outside of what was apparently Paul's new house just as a woman left which made her incredibly suspicious, maybe she was right that he had a girlfriend.

When Paul saw Stephanie's car pull up he wanted he had a bad feeling and as he stood in the doorway waiting for them to come in he saw her face as she stepped out of the car and he felt like he was right to be concerned, she seemed mad.

She didn't say anything as they walked to the front door; she didn't have any words that she cared to speak in front of their children and his parents.

"It looks like a nice house Paul."

"It needs a bit of work on the garden and a lick of paint to the outside but it will do. The neighbours seems nice too, the girls have just taken a cake through to the kitchen that one of the neighbour's just dropped off."

Did she believe him? Not entirely, she would give him the benefit of the doubt though. "I had better go and check on the girls to make sure that they aren't eating it."

He couldn't help but sigh heavily as she walked past him, "Will it ever get easier?"

As much as she wanted to tell her son 'yes' she couldn't as she didn't have any experience of his situation and she was incredibly grateful of that fact. "You can hope."

When she walked in to the kitchen Stephanie spotted all three girls crowded around the kitchen table, "What are you three trouble makers up to?"

"Nothing."

"We wanted to see what flavour the cake was."

Of course she could rely on Vaughn to be honest. "What cake?"

"The one da neighbour dropped off. It smells so good."

So it really was a neighbour, it didn't mean that he hadn't had a girlfriend here and sent her away though. "If you are really really good girls then your Dad may let you have a slice later or have some to take home but not now so back away from the cake."

"Your Mom is right girls, no cake just now. Why don't you go and show your Grandparents around upstairs?"

The girls quickly ran off wanting to show off the rooms they had decided were theirs to their Grandparents.

With the girls out of the room Stephanie turned to look out of the window whilst Paul busied himself with the cake cutting a quarter of it off to put in the fridge for himself so that he could give the rest to Stephanie to share among everyone at home.

Once he had found something to put his cake in he wrapped up the rest of the cake again, "The cake is all yours to take home with you." When she didn't reply he turned to see her staring out of the window with her arms wrapped around herself, walking closer he gently tapped her on the shoulder, "The cake is all yours to take home with you."

Slowly turning around she forced a smile, "Thanks. You didn't have to do that though, you shouldn't let the girls get what they want."

"Trust me they're not. There is no way that I could eat the entire thing anyway so I was going to give it to you anyway because you have my parents and the girls as well as yourself who can eat it." He couldn't help himself and reached to tuck the stray lock of hair behind her ear

The slight touch of his hand on her face sent a shiver down her spine, reaching up she took his hand in his gulping nervously at the memories of how his hands would burn through her clothes when he would look at her in a certain way and how he was always so gentle even at the most passionate of moments.

Paul didn't know what to do with himself as she kept a grip on his hand still, it was like they were frozen in time. As he studied her face he noticed a stray tear falling down her cheek so using the thumb of his free hand he reached up and wiped it away, "What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything, it is just the memories of how you used to touch and kiss me. Those memories hurt you know." She still wasn't able to let go of his hand, she just enjoyed being able to hold his hand again.

Was that an invitation to kiss her? He really wasn't sure about himself so rather than taking the leap and her hating him even more for it he decided to not. "I'm sorry that I hurt you so much, you do believe that I never wanted to do that to you don't you?" Pulling the hand that she was holding closer to him he pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, hopefully she couldn't hate him for that.

The touch of his lips on her hand was so soft and gentle, it was exactly how she remembered the kisses to her hand to be but she couldn't remember what it felt like when he kissed her lips. She didn't know if it was just the fact that her mind was trying to protect her from the pain so was blocking them out or if it had just been too long but she didn't want to forget what his kisses felt like or how he tasted, she needed to be reminded. Without her heels on she was a little shorter than her husband so going up on to her tiptoes she pressed a kiss to his lips tentatively just to see if he would react.

When she moved closer to him his body stiffened slightly concerned about what she was going to do, when she kissed him it was the last thing that he expected. He didn't immediately respond to the kiss but when she didn't quickly pull away he used his free hand and slid it around her waist holding her close to him as he returned the kiss.

Releasing his hand she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave herself to the kiss completely not thinking or caring about what was going to happen once the kiss finished and she came crashing back down to earth.


	34. Chapter 34

The two stayed locked together in a kiss until the sound of the girls' excited chatter started to filter through to the kitchen as they started to make their way back down the stairs.

Springing apart the two stared at each other, not a word was spoken as neither knew what to say. Their intense staring contest was broken when the girls entered the kitchen, "Can we have cake please?"

"No cake. Your Dad said that we can take most of it home with us so you can have some for dessert tonight. What do you say to your Dad?"

"Thank you Daddy, you are the best Daddy ever."

Paul couldn't help but laugh at his youngest daughter's over the top reaction, "Thank you Princess. So what does everybody think of the house?"

* * *

The next few hours were busy for Paul but he noticed that his wife stayed out of the way and barely engaged but he was enjoying being around his parents and his daughters so he tried not to worry about her too much or worry about the kiss that they had shared.

"Come on girls, we should let your Dad get back to what he had planned and let your Grandparents spend some time with him."

"It's okay Steph; I didn't mind you and the girls joining us." And Paul didn't mind that they had joined, he got to pretend for a little while that everything was okay with his family even though Stephanie had mostly sat quietly on the sidelines.

"Same here." Patricia agreed with her son, it was nice having everybody together and for things to not be colder than the North Pole. Although she thought it was nice for thing to be cooler between them there was still a weird vibe going on between them, she couldn't quite figure out what it was but it was something strange.

"I guess we'll go home. Can we still take the cake with us please?"

None of the adults could hold back their laughter at the question, "Yes Murphy, you still get to take the cake with you."

"Yay, thank you Daddy."

"You're welcome." It hurt to say goodbye to his daughters but at least his parents were with him for a little bit longer so that he could take his mind off of Stephanie.

* * *

Whilst Stephanie drove the car home the girls were happily sat together in the back listening to the radio and talking about what sort of cake they wanted it to be but she didn't mind, anything that wasn't a discussion about anything Paul related made her happy.

When they got inside the girls went straight back outside again but this time they went out the back to play for a while and Stephanie joined them only she watched and made sure that they didn't get too rough for Vaughn who didn't quite understand things sometimes. After an hour they all went inside for a drink, once the girls had finished their drinks they went straight back outside to play but Stephanie remained inside as she was cold as she wasn't running around the yard like they were.

Sitting in a silent house with nothing to distract her mind from drifting to thoughts of him she couldn't help but think about Paul and the kiss that they had shared, she didn't know where it had come from and it had completely messed up her mind.

* * *

Patricia and Paul Senior spent another two hours with their son before he dropped them back to Stephanie's. Letting them in with the spare set of keys that they had borrowed whilst they were staying here. As her husband took off his jacket she made her way through the house to join Stephanie and the kids in the yard as she had heard the sounds of the girls playing as they walked down the drive but she stopped when she saw her daughter-in-law just staring out of the window.

Silently shrugging off her jacket she placed it on the counter before she moved closer to her, "Everything okay?"

She hadn't even heard them come home as she had been so lost in her own little world so she jumped when she heard her voice. "Yes thank you. It was cold out there so when we came in for a drink and then they went back outside I just stayed here."

The thought of standing outside for an extended period of time sent a shiver down her spine so she was happy to pull up a chair beside Stephanie and take a seat watching over the girls outside. "I can't believe how much energy they have."

Unable to prevent it a laugh passed her lips at the comment, "Makes two of us. Some days, like today when I barely got any sleep, I wish that I could bottle some of their energy and that way I would have more energy and they would have less."

"You didn't sleep well last night? Why was that?"

She wished that she had an answer that she was comfortable sharing. "I couldn't stop thinking about Paul and what the right decision to make was." Stephanie hoped that Patricia bought that lie as she really didn't want to admit to her that she had spent all night thinking about how easy it would have been to just climb over the railings and end it all on Friday and how part of her still wanted to do that.

Would it be her place to ask her about what Senior told her? She didn't want her to never be able to trust her husband so maybe it would be best not to mention it. "Was that all that was on your mind? You weren't thinking about what happened on Friday were you? Brains have a strange habit of bringing up everything we haven't sorted in the dead of night." The look on her daughter-in-law's face had her quickly clarifying what she meant as it had come out all wrong, "I mean with your Dad, he told me about how the two of you had had a disagreement at the office."

Initially she had feared that she couldn't trust her Father-in-law to keep her secrets so when Patricia clarified to explain that she meant her Dad she felt better. "Well yeah earlier in the day was kind of playing on my mind too." The older woman didn't need to know that what Stephanie meant was not what she had asked her.

"Are you feeling better about things today? You can talk to me if you're not. I may not understand the mechanics of the business but I am a good listener."

It was funny that the older woman offered to listen if she wanted to talk; she did kind of feel like she needed to talk but not about Friday, about the moment that she had shared with her husband a few hours ago.

Silence, why was everybody giving her silence when she asked a searching question? "You don't have to talk if you don't want to; the offer is just out there if you do."

A few minutes of silence passed before Stephanie chose to speak up. "Paul and I had a moment when you and the girls were upstairs at his house."

"A moment? What is one of those exactly? I'm sorry I'm not very hip and don't know what this language means."

"Umm, you know where there is this thing between two people that can be like romantic." She didn't know how to explain it; she didn't want to outright say that she kissed him because that wasn't the only thing that happened in that moment. There were touches and looks and just a general moment that if she wasn't so conflicted about their relationship and was fully in love with him then she would have felt special and would have been walking on air after it.

Reading between the lines of what she was vaguely saying Patricia assumed that something romantic happened between them and it gave her hope that the two of them could fix their marriage but she was sure that hope would be crushed as this conversation progressed. "So the two of you had a romantic moment? Was it a look? Maybe it was something similar to a look? I am really sorry but I am just no good at these sorts of conversations."

"A romantic moment like a kiss." Inhaling sharply she knew that she needed to continue quickly or she would jump to conclusions that they were going to get back together, "I don't know what happened, one minute I was staring out of the window and the next I was staring at Paul and he was being sweet and gentle."

"So the two of you kissed? Did he force himself on you?"

Her eyes widened and she gasped in horror, she wasn't even sure that Paul knew how to force himself on anybody, he was too gentle. "You know that your son would never do that."

"I thought I knew that my son would never cheat on you but we all knew what happened there. What is the issue if he didn't force himself on you?" It was confusing as to why she was so conflicted if she just kissed her husband, they were still married and it was obvious that she still loved him so it was just something that the two of them had shared in a moment alone. "Can I just suggest that instead of overanalysing it you relax and follow your heart? I am not saying that you need to make a decision right now and I am not saying that you should or should not be with Paul, I am just saying that all of this stressing is no good for you."

Maybe she was right, maybe overanalysing it wasn't doing her any good but it was so hard not to do that. "You are probably right; I will try not to think about it too much."

"Good, I'm glad."

The two women silently watched the girls outside for a little bit longer before they all ran inside cold and hungry which gave Stephanie a distraction and something to focus her energy on.

* * *

After dinner she gave the girls a small slice of cake with some ice cream which, according to Murphy, granted her the status of World's Greatest Mom. It felt so nice for her to do something right by the girls, so often these days it felt like she was doing everything wrong and although it was only cake she was taking any small victory where she could get it.

By the time she crawled in to bed she was exhausted but the second her head hit the pillow her mind started working overdrive and she wasn't sure that she was even going to get to sleep tonight.

Every time she closed her eyes she saw Paul's face and felt his lips on hers and it was torture, she still loved her husband very much but she did not trust him in the slightest and she wasn't sure if she could ever learn to trust him again.

Part of her wanted to trust him, part of her wanted to talk to him and part of her wanted to just cut him out of her life for good so that she could guarantee that she never got hurt again. She continued to toss and turn and bed unable to settle herself to sleep as her mind continued to race.

* * *

Fast asleep he was brought from his deep slumber by the sound of the phone ringing. Blindly reaching for the offending object he opened his one eye a fraction to see what time it was, sitting bolt upright in bed when he saw that the clock read 2:21am nobody was going to be ringing at this time of night with anything but bad news. Still very much half asleep his eyes wouldn't focus to read what the name on the screen was so he just answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Hi."

Paul would recognise that voice anywhere, it had been a long time since he had heard her sounding so timid though and he was concerned. "Is everything okay? Are the girls okay? Are you okay? Are my parents okay?"

"It's okay, everybody is fine."

Relief flooded over him at the news that everybody was okay however he didn't want to jump down her throat but he did need to know why the hell she had called him at 2:20 in the morning if everybody was fine. "Are you sure that everybody is fine? If they really were you wouldn't be calling at 2 in the morning." He had to give himself a pat on the back for wording it like that because he might actually get away with it and she may not get mad at him but then it was the middle of the night so nothing could be guaranteed.

Why had she called him? Why could it not wait until tomorrow when they both had to fly out for Raw as soon as she had dropped the girls off at school so were going to be in the same place? Shifting in bed she absently pushed at the pillow behind her to fluff it up a little before she settled back against the headboard. "I don't know what to say to you Paul, I guess I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about earlier and I wanted to talk it out with you."

"Okay, what did you want to talk about?" He was a little nervous that she wanted to discuss the kiss, as a result of his new found knowledge he was now wide awake.

Her brain wouldn't allow her to sleep but she hadn't even given a second thought to the fact that she might wake him up and now she was just feeling guilty and running away from the conversation like she had a habit of doing when it came to Paul. "I'm sorry; I really shouldn't have woken you up. We can talk about it another time."

"Or we could talk about it now. You are clearly bothered by it, I am wide awake now and may not even get back to sleep if you just hang up and we don't discuss it so why don't you just bite the bullet and tell me what is on your mind." If she hung up on him he swore he would scream, he couldn't not know what was going on because if this was leading to a divorce he needed to prepare himself.

Crossing her legs she moved in the bed to lean forward rather than lean back, "I'm sorry that I forced myself on you earlier, it's just that I had all of these memories of how it felt when you kissed my hand and how your hands felt on my body at different times and I couldn't remember how it felt when you kissed my lips, I didn't want to forget how it felt when you kissed my lips."

Okay so that made some sense to him, it broke his heart but it made sense. "It's okay Steph, we're still married and I still love you very much so getting to kiss you again literally made my life. I know that it means nothing and there is still a good chance that you are not going to want to give me a second chance but hopefully no matter what you decide we will be able to put the past behind us and be friends, not just for the girls' sakes but for ours."

She wasn't sure if she would be able to not be with him and be friends, after the kiss that they had shared earlier she wasn't even sure if she could live without him and she was scared. If she couldn't live without him would it mean that she could learn to trust him again? She wasn't sure about that.

"Steph?" Had she just fallen asleep on him?

"I'm not sure that I could be friends with you." She felt horrible for saying that out loud but it was the truth.

If she couldn't be friends with him how were they going to effectively parent the girls? They couldn't continue as they were as the girls were just going to end up stuck in the middle and he didn't want that and he was sure that Stephanie wouldn't either. "Is there any possible way for me to convince you to give us another try? I will do **anything** if you just give me one more chance."

"Meet me for lunch tomorrow at Raw. We will find somewhere to be alone and we'll eat and that is all the promises that I am making."

"Holy shit." That was more than he ever thought was possible than he was going to take it and he was going to make the most of it. "I will happily meet you for lunch tomorrow. I will get lunch and you can tell me where to meet you."

"That sounds okay. I will text you after the production meeting in the morning once I find somewhere to meet and then you can meet me there once you have food."

He could definitely agree to that, it sounded like his wife was going to give him a chance to do something, whether it was talk or prove himself to her or just to spend time with her he would take it. As soon as things were on a more stable footing between them he would start trying to win her back but until that point he was going to settle for anything she would give him. "That sounds like a good plan to me. I will let you go so that you can get some sleep before you have to deal with your Dad tomorrow."

"Thank you Paul, goodnight."

"Night Steph, I love you." Fuck, the second the words left his mouth he flinched and prepared himself for the anger.

The words came from nowhere for Stephanie, she wasn't expecting to hear him say that he loved her but surprisingly it didn't make her angry, "Night Paul." A moment passed before she quietly added 'I love you too' just before she ended the call.

Holding his breath as she said goodnight it all seemed too good to be true that she wasn't angry. He was just about to end the call and count his lucky stars that she was too tired to get mad at him when he heard the words he longed to hear. If his wife was saying 'I love you', whether she meant him to hear it or not it gave him hope and he was going to hold on to it.

Once the call had ended he put his phone back on the side and slid back down in bed to go to sleep, the only problem was that he was wide awake and his mind was racing a mile a minute with his hopes and dreams.

* * *

Rather than reaching to put her phone on the side Stephanie just dropped it to the bed beside her as she lay down curling up in to a little ball beneath the covers. Closing her eyes she tried to push all thoughts of Paul from her mind so that she could at least get some sleep before morning. Eventually she drifted off in to a peaceful slumber dreaming of what her future could hold.


	35. Chapter 35

This is for **hhhfangirl** , I hope you enjoy it :)

* * *

Monday morning was always busy in the house but even with her in-law's help Stephanie still found herself run off her feet trying to get everything ready and to get everybody out of the door and to school before it actually began.

Placing her bag in the trunk she slammed it shut only to see that the girls weren't there, "Come on girls! Hurry up will you? Your Grandparents will still be here when you get home so leave them for the time being and just get in the car."

Much to her relief the girls soon came rushing out of the house and jumped in to the car. Politely waving at Patricia who appeared in the doorway Stephanie climbed in to the driving seat, "Seatbelts on please." Once everybody had their seatbelt on she turned the key in the engine and made her way out of the drive.

* * *

Once the girls were dropped at school she knew that she had to go and meet her Dad to head to Raw, the only problem was that as she sat in the car with her hand on the brake ready to take it off and leave she found herself unable to actually take that step to leave. Sat there staring out in front of her all she could think of was how much she didn't want to face Paul.

Reaching down to the passenger floor she fished through her bag until she found her phone and pulled it out to send a text message:

 _I'm not going to make it to Raw. Sorry for the late notice._

Once she had sent the text and she felt like she was no longer needed to get to the airport it was like a weight had been lifted and the block in her brain preventing her from actually moving the car had gone so she found herself driving away from the school at last.

* * *

For Paul the drive to catch the plane felt like it was a lifetime, after he had ended the call with Stephanie it had taken him quite a while to fall asleep which left him feeling decidedly sluggish however he had lunch with his wife to look forward to, it had been a long time since he had been able to say that.

On his approach to the plane he tried not to seem like he was too excited as that would only backfire on him with Steph somehow, these things always did, as he reached the plane it turned out that it didn't matter anyway as she was yet to arrive which wasn't really a surprise when she had the girls to deal with.

As they waited for Vince to arrive people were making small talk amongst themselves and Paul was stood there looking around in a desperate search for his wife. After spending most of the night up thinking about her and their lunch together he couldn't help but look forward to today. Today felt like the biggest day in their relationship and he was looking forward to making progress and hopefully taking a small step forward in repairing it.

"Everybody on the plane please."

Glancing up he was surprised to see Vince in front of him, he must have gotten so lost in his own little world that he entirely missed him pulling up. Not wanting to be shouted at by Vince so early in the morning he turned to climb on the plane but stopped when he heard his name being called, "Yes Vince?"

"So I understand that Stephanie isn't going to make it today. Are the girls okay?" If there was one person he was guaranteed to get the truth about his Granddaughters right now it would be this man, he couldn't entirely trust that his daughter wasn't just stringing him a line because she didn't want to face Paul. He would have gone over Paul's head to his parents but unfortunately he did not have their number and couldn't call the landline in case Stephanie answered.

Since when was his wife not going to make it to Raw? Why had she called him at 2am and invited him to lunch and then backed out and not told him? Was one of the girls actually sick and she hadn't said anything as she didn't want him to offer to stay back and for them to make Vince even madder? So many questions and so few answers. "I haven't heard from Stephanie since I saw them yesterday but I will text my parents and make sure everything is okay." He failed to mention the fact that he had spoken to her in the middle of the night as that would only bring up more questions that he just did not know the answers to.

"Thank you Paul, I did ask if everything was okay but you know my daughter, her attention obviously isn't on her phone." Walking up the steps to the plane Vince's mind was plagued by the questions of what Paul was hiding from him as he seemed vague.

With his Father-in-law safely out of the way he removed his phone from his pocket to text his Mom but he wasn't entirely sure how to word it without worrying her.

 _Are the girls okay? Vince said that Stephanie isn't going to make it to Raw._

"Come on Paul, we need to take off."

Quickly putting his phone on to airplane mode when Vince shouted at him from the plane he hurried to put it in his pocket to go and join everybody else.

* * *

Sat on the couch Patricia and Paul Snr were contemplating when to go back home, they were beginning to feel like they were overstaying their welcome and that was the last thing they wanted to do. "What if we went home on Wednesday? We could meet with Paul for one last lunch and then drive home?"

Senior knew his wife well enough to know that it wasn't so much a question but more a directive so he simply nodded his head, "Whatever you say dear."

She was about to admonish her husband for being entirely frustrating when her phone beeped, she didn't even know who the text was from but her entire body had run cold before she looked. Moving forward on the couch she nervously picked up the phone to look at the screen, what was Paul doing texting her already? What had he done to upset Stephanie already? Unfortunately the text that she read was not one that made her relax, if anything it set her even more on edge, throwing the phone down on to the couch beside her she sat back, "I think we have a problem."

"Oh no, what has he done?"

"Nothing, not that I know of. I don't know the full details; all I know is that Paul has been told that apparently Stephanie told Vince that she wasn't going to make it to Raw so Paul wants to know if the girls are okay."

"Didn't she leave to drop the girls at school and then to go and get the flight? Did I miss something when I went to help Vaughn with her teeth?" He adored his Granddaughters so sometimes he was guilty of not paying a lot of attention to what was going on around him so it was entirely possible for him to miss something small like that. The look that his wife was currently giving him in response to his question told him that he wasn't missing anything at all, "I will go with I didn't miss anything and she is essentially missing right now."

"Good choice Paul, good choice. What do we do now?"

They had a few choices, they could text Paul back and tell him his wife was missing and allow him to freak out whilst in an airplane, they could borrow the girl's phone to get the number and text Vince and allow him to do the same or they could try and see if they could get hold of Linda. Only one of those options was appealing so getting up from the couch she made her way to the cupboard in the corner of the room and began to open the drawers, the phone had to be here somewhere.

After a moment she had what she believed to be the girl's phone in her hand and went to sit back down to call Linda. Once the phone had loaded she made her way to the contacts smiling at the names the girls had for them all listed in the phone, there was only one possible option to be Linda so copying the number to her own phone she called it and hoped for the best. As the phone rang out for what felt like the longest time she was losing hope of actually speaking to her and that fear was confirmed when she was redirected to the voicemail but she was at a loss as to what to say, how do you say 'I'm worried your daughter is about to commit suicide' without panicking somebody? Surrendering she ended the call before she got to the actual leaving a message part, sighing heavily she felt defeated, she didn't want to panic somebody who couldn't do anything to help but she was also beginning to panic herself. "What do I do? Linda isn't answering, Paul will completely freak out if I tell him, Vince is on the same plane as Paul so if I call Vince then Paul will know."

"Don't call him then, text him. He has to know how to text on his phone and I am sure that he will want to keep this from Paul as much as we do."

Her husband was right, the last thing Vince would want is to admit to Paul that they weren't freaking out as this was the first time that she had gone missing on them, only last time she had returned and this time she wasn't so sure that she actually would.

Staring at the text after writing it she wasn't sure if that would freak him out or would he think it was something simple and not worry? With her mind on overdrive she decided to read it out loud, "How does this sound please? Hi Vince it is Pat (Steph's in-law). I am trying to get hold of Linda urgently re: Stephanie not making it to Raw. Can you help please?"

That was a surprisingly well thought out text, unless his mind immediately thought the worst he was likely to think they wanted some help with something because somebody was sick. "That should work; send it so that he can help us as soon as possible."

Immediately sending the text she hoped that he had some sort of service and could reply to her.

* * *

There was only so long that you could discuss the same storyline with somebody before you began to lose interest and Vince was long past the point of losing interest but unfortunately there was nowhere for him to go to escape from it. When his cell phone beeped with a message from an unrecognised number it gave him the perfect excuse, "If you will excuse me, I need to deal with this." As he made his way to a more private area he opened the text to read it, maybe he was being overly suspicious but it put him on edge, something about the text just gave him a really bad feeling and he didn't like it.

 _What is the urgency? Who is sick and how bad are they? Do I need to send Paul home?_

As he waited for the reply he began drumming his fingers on the arms of his seat, he loved the WWE but he loved his family more so if this was serious then screw the rest of them, he was turning this plane around and going back home.

* * *

Whilst she waited for a reply from Vince Patricia did try Linda again but sadly the phone just rang out until it went to voicemail again, "Do you think he will be able to respond quickly?" Almost as soon as she had asked the question then her phone beeped and she got her reply, "Why does that man have to be so smart?"

"I think that is how he built up a billion dollar company. What did he say?"

"He asked what the urgency was, who was sick and how bad they were and if he needed to send Paul home. Of course he couldn't just contact his wife, now I have to think up an excuse for him."

Senior couldn't help but shake his head at his wife; the man already knew something was going on so if she even tried to lie to him then it would probably cause even more trouble. "There is always the option of just telling him the truth that nobody is sick and Stephanie has disappeared."

She didn't want to tell Vince, she was beginning to realise that she actually didn't have a choice though if she wanted help finding Stephanie, "Fine, I understand where you are coming from and will just bite the bullet and tell him."

 _Nobody is sick; we didn't even know Stephanie wasn't going to Raw until Paul sent us a text so we were hoping you could enlist Linda in helping us to find Stephanie please.  
_

* * *

When the text came in Vince was grateful that he was alone otherwise somebody would know that there was a problem.

 _I will get Linda to call you ASAP. Keep me updated._

He didn't stop to think about what was said, he immediately switched to text Linda.

 _EMERGENCY! Abandon everything and call Patricia Levesque RIGHT NOW!_

It took him a couple of attempts to get the right phone number but as soon as he had it he sent the text, his wife would help and make everything right, he knew that she would.

"Vince, I wondered if you had a moment to discuss the Intercontinental Title please?"

It was almost like somebody had read his mind as that was exactly what he needed to stop him from feeling helpless. "I have until this plane lands so take a seat."

* * *

Linda was supposed to be working on her Women's Leadership Live stuff but her phone had gone twice in quick succession, she didn't recognise the number and they weren't in her contact list so she ignored it and instead focussed on her work as they didn't leave a voicemail.

No more than fifteen minutes after the phone calls her phone vibrated with a text, curiosity told her to have a look so picking her phone up she glanced at the screen, seeing 'emergency' at the beginning immediately set her on edge, opening the text fully she gulped and didn't question calling the number in the text message.

* * *

Laundry was proving to be a nice distraction from everything going on in Pat's head but as soon as her phone began to ring she dropped the shirt she was folding and answered the call, "Hello?"

"Is that Patricia?"

"It is, is that Linda?"

"It is." As she saved the work on her computer she pushed her chair back a little, "What can I do for you? Vince said it is some kind of emergency but he didn't elaborate at all."

"Are you sitting down because I just feel like it would be for the best if you are?"

What was going on? Either her work was really clogging up her brain or she was about to get some really bad news, "I am sitting down at my desk, I was just working. What is going on?"

"Vince doesn't know this, Paul doesn't know this, I don't even know that Stephanie knows that my husband told me this. On Friday night Stephanie thought about ending her life and I am terrified that she is going to actually go through with it today and I don't know how to find her."

"Whoa whoa whoa, rewind a little please. What do you mean Stephanie thought about ending her life? What do you mean that you are terrified that she is going to go through with it today? Isn't she at Raw or on her way to Raw or something?"

"She should be, I thought that she was until I got a text from Paul to ask if everybody was okay as she wasn't going to Raw and he assumed one of the girls was sick but they're not, they're all in school." Repeating this story was slowly killing Patricia on the inside a little more, "Stephanie hasn't come home, she took a bag with her like she was going to Raw but I don't know where she is and I am really scared that she is going to actually end her life. Over the past few days she has been really conflicted about Paul and she has wanted to come to a decision about her marriage but then she kissed him yesterday when we went to see his house and I'm scared that it will have tipped her over the edge, and not a good edge. I'm sorry that I am putting this on you but I don't know Connecticut at all so I don't know the first place to start looking for her."

She was already halfway to the closet to get some shoes and a coat before Patricia had even finished talking, "Have you tried calling her?"

She had one time but she hadn't wanted it to seem like she knew anything so she hadn't left a message or anything. "When I couldn't get hold of you I called her but she didn't pick up and I didn't want to call the office to see if she'd gone there to do any work because my head is a mess and I didn't know how to bluff my way through it."

"Call the office and speak to Stephanie's secretary, say that you think Stephanie left a permission slip for one of the girl's to go on a school trip or something on her desk and can she check and that way you'll find out if Steph is actually there. Once you find that out text me to know if she is there meanwhile I will head out and see if I can find her anywhere but under no circumstances tell Paul what is going on, we do not need him freaking out on us."

Doing that was the last thing on her mind; she just knew that he would hit the roof if he found out what had been going on and what they had been keeping from him. "Don't worry Linda; this secret is safe with me. Thank you and I am sorry."

"Don't be, thank you for trusting me enough to get me involved. I will be in touch later." Ending the call she pulled on her coat and turned to grab her car keys, she was trying not to think about what could be and was instead focussing on finding her.

* * *

It was strange but after she left the school there wasn't a question in her mind about where she was going to go, she simply drove and found herself in the same place that she had been on Friday. With it being Monday morning it was relatively quiet so she was able to just take a seat on an empty bench and sit there in silence enjoying the view.

When she had left home this morning she had every intention of going to Raw and having lunch with Paul but after dropping the girls off at school the reality of it all became too much for her and she just couldn't do it. Lying to her Dad didn't make her feel great about herself but she couldn't be honest with him, she couldn't be honest with anybody about what was going on in her head because they just weren't going to understand, how could they understand when she didn't understand herself?


	36. Chapter 36

Linda left the house and honestly had no idea where to go, she was going to try a couple of hotels and motels first and then go from there. On the way to the first hotel her phone beeped, pulling in to the parking lot she checked her phone hoping that it was good news from Patricia.

 _I spoke to Steph's Secretary, she's not there & she hasn't seen her today, I said she said she might drop by the office to pick it up before her flight. I also tried calling Steph & she didn't pick up_

That was not the answer that she had been hoping for but now she knew and just had to continue with her search.

 _Thanks. I'm checking hotels, motels etc and then I don't know where I'll go but I will find her._

She checked all of the hotels and motels in the local area and there was no sign of her daughter so now Linda was back to the drawing board of where to go to find her.

* * *

The sound of the waves gently lapping at the shore was drawing Stephanie in so moving closer she stood at the edge looking down. It was weird but despite all of the progress she made with Paul this weekend, well really it was just despite the fact that they kissed, she found herself back in the same position that she had been in on Friday, she found herself wondering if ending it all would be the better option for everybody.

"Stephanie, don't do it!" It was only as a last resort that Linda decided to try the cliff top, she was basically reduced to checking any open spaces and this was her first choice because of the ease at being able to commit suicide. When she saw her daughter stood at the railing she panicked, all of her fears came to a head in that one moment and she was terrified.

Slowly turning around she was convinced that she heard her Mom's voice but part of her thought that she was going mad and simply imagining it because there was no way that her Mom would be here as nobody knew that she was here. Much to her surprise her Mom was stood there in front of her, "What? How?"

Pulling her daughter in to a tight embrace she was so relieved that she was okay. "Let's go and sit down." Not so subtly leading her away from the railings she pulled her along to go and sit down on one of the benches, "Why aren't you at Raw?"

"Why are you even here? Were you looking for me or something?" She was too confused to even answer any questions.

So relieved that she had her daughter safe in front of her she almost forgot that she needed to let Patricia and Paul Snr know that she was okay, "Hang on, I just need to text somebody."

 _I've found her, she's safe. I'll update you after._

Once she had sent the text she could answer her daughter's questions, there was no way to answer them other than honestly though. "I'm here because I was looking for you. Paul sent a text to his parents asking who was sick as you weren't going to make it to Raw and as they thought that you had gone to Raw and hadn't heard anything from you and couldn't get hold of you they were panicked and as I know the area a lot better than they do I said that I would come and look for you. You have no idea how much of a fright you have given people."

"I didn't mean to, I just couldn't face Paul." So that wasn't entirely the whole truth but her Mom didn't need to know everything, she had enough on her plate as it was.

"So you weren't here thinking about ending it all?" She knew that she shouldn't ask the question but if her daughter was that deep in depression she needed to know.

"He told you? He told her? I can't believe he did that." Part of her was insulted, part was angry and part of her just didn't know how to feel she had trusted him, she couldn't believe that he had told on her, how many people had he told though?

The fact that she hadn't moved was actually a good sign and she would celebrate it if she wasn't so worried that her daughter was about to cut her in-laws out of her life. "Three of us know, me, Patricia and Senior. I was only told as they thought that I should have all of the facts and know all of their fears as I was the one that was actively looking for you. Don't hold it against them, it was only shared because they care and were worried about you and to be honest I don't blame them for being worried about you because I am worried too. Do you want to talk about why you skipped Raw? How about why you made Pat and Senior believe that you were going to Raw?"

"I was going to Raw! When I left the house I had every intention of going to Raw but after dropping the girls off at school I just couldn't do it." Staring down at the floor she couldn't face her Mom and admit the truth to her as she was going to be so ashamed of her, "I kissed Paul yesterday, I don't know why I did it but I started it. I was so confused last night that I called him at two this morning and we spoke and I agreed to have lunch with him today but I couldn't do it, I couldn't face him and give him that hope when my head is so messed up that I don't know what I want any more."

Linda reached across the small gap between herself and Stephanie and squeezed her arm gently, "It's okay you know, he'll understand that you weren't up to going to lunch." The fact that Stephanie was avoiding answering whether she was there to end it all made Linda nervous and she had to get her out of there, "Shall we go back to yours as it will be a hell of a lot warmer than here?"

She couldn't go back to hers, not with Patricia and Senior still there, she couldn't face them right now. "I'm okay, I'm not cold. If you're too cold you can go because I'll be okay here."

"We could go for coffee or back to mine if you would prefer not to go home yet?"

"I'm not going to get peace and quiet am I?"

"Not here you won't, you'll catch pneumonia. Please Steph can you come somewhere else, for me?" If she had to blackmail her to get her to move she would, she would do anything so that she was certain that her daughter was safe and wasn't going to do anything stupid. "It'll get better you know, this feeling is only temporary and you just have to fight through it."

"Everybody keeps telling me that it is temporary, if it is so temporary why is it not getting any better?"

"I said temporary, I didn't say that it would be fixed overnight. Stop looking for it to be fixed and start living day by day; it is all that you can do for your sake and for the sake of the girls. They know you're sad you know."

"They don't, they have no idea what is going on." The girls couldn't know what was going on, she was trying so hard to shield them from how bad she was feeling and she wasn't sure how she was going to deal with them knowing how bad things really were.

Linda knew that her daughter was in a dark place but tip-toeing softly around her feelings really wasn't getting them anywhere. "Oh they know, believe me they know how sad you are. When Vince was icing cupcakes with the girls on Friday, I would like to know how they managed to convince him to do that as not once in his life has he set foot near any baking, Vaughn asked him why he was working you so hard because you are always so sad and that question was quickly followed by Murphy scolding her sister for blaming 'Pop Pop' when it wasn't his fault, apparently Mommy is so sad because Daddy's not there any more which resulted in Aurora muttering that she hated that her Dad didn't love any of you any more."

"I thought that she had forgiven him and knew that he loved her."

"I think deep down she does but you know how much like a Mother she is to everybody so I think she just realises how sad you are and is acting like she hates him when she doesn't. You need to find a way to be happy, I don't mean deciding on your marriage, I just mean being happy as a person. Don't let a marriage or lack of marriage define you, don't let Paul define your happiness, be your own person and be happy in yourself. Where did my confident, independent daughter go? Don't let one man's mistakes take that away from you."

Her Mom was right, she really needed to stop letting Paul's mistake take away from the person that she was, she had been happy before him, she was happy with him and she could be happy again whether that was with him or alone. Most of all she needed to find that happiness and confidence for her daughters, she needed to give them a strong role model to look up to so they knew that it was okay to be happy alone and they didn't need a man to define them. "I am going to go and check in to a hotel for the night, the girls aren't expecting me back until after school tomorrow so I think that I'll just take some time out to think."

She really didn't want her to be alone, using the word think was always code for something else and she hated the idea of leaving her and her actually doing something stupid.

"I'll text you every single hour if you want. I just need to be alone to do some thinking after what you have said; I can't keep bringing the girls down because they are young and should be carefree and happy."

"You're not bringing them down; they just know that you aren't happy."

Shrugging her shoulders she still needed time and space to process it all. "I would still like to be alone for a while."

It felt wrong but she wasn't going to win this argument, "Okay fine, if it will make you happy. Where are you going to stay?"

She hadn't thought that far ahead, "I'm not sure; I'll tell you when I find somewhere." Hugging her Mom she pulled away and stood up, "Thank you for this and I'm sorry for interrupting your work. I'll talk to you later." Stephanie turned around to walk away; she had some serious thinking to do.

* * *

Sat watching her daughter walk away she wasn't sure if that had gone well or not but she needed to keep Patricia and Paul Senior updated anyway.

 _Stephanie has gone to find a hotel room for tonight and will be back tomorrow. I don't know how it went or how much I got through to her but I tried.  
_

* * *

Lost in her own little world staring out of the window of her hotel room Stephanie was brought back to reality with a jolt by the beep of her phone. Realising that she hadn't actually checked in with her Mom she figured that it was her checking in on her to make sure that she hadn't done anything stupid but as she opened her phone she realised it was a group text between Paul's parents, herself and her husband himself.

 _Is anybody going to this? I wondered if you are if we could stay to go to it also please? We've never had the chance to go to a school thing before._

The flyer said that it was some sort of family games day to raise money for charity so it wasn't exactly something they could miss but if his parents stayed for it then really Paul should go too and if Paul went then they would have to put on a united front and pretend like nothing had happened. All of the potential scenarios were beginning to give her a headache so she threw her phone across the room and on to the bed just to get it away from her.

* * *

Paul was sat in the production meeting and he was supposed to be focussing on what Vince was saying but instead he was staring at his phone wondering whether he should text his wife or not? The lack of sleep really wasn't helping with his focus so it was much easier to just stare at his phone than it was listening to Vince. When the phone vibrated and he saw the text from his parents it made him even more eager to check his phone every two minutes to see if Stephanie responded and what she actually said.

The scraping of chairs signalled the end of the meeting so Paul followed suit and pushed his own chair back standing up ready to leave. "Where do you think you're going Paul?"

"Somewhere, anywhere? I'm guessing that is a no now though? What can I do for you Vince?"

Nothing escaped Vince when he was conducting a meeting so seeing his own son-in-law not paying attention was not a good look for him. "What has got your focus that wasn't the meeting?" He didn't want to tell his son-in-law what had happened today if he didn't actually know.

"I didn't sleep last night, well I got maybe an hour if you're lucky before Stephanie called me and then I didn't sleep again after and then Steph didn't turn up to come to Raw and nobody has responded to my text asking who is sick so yes, I am a little distracted Vince and there is nothing you can say that will change those facts I am afraid."

Why had his daughter called Paul in the middle of the night? Did that have anything to do with her not being at Raw? The only message he had received from his wife was that Stephanie was okay and she'd explain when he got home, "What happened in the middle of the night?"

"Nothing specifically happened in the middle of the night; she wanted to discuss the fact that she kissed me yesterday. I hate how fucked up I have made her. I keep thinking that it will get better but then something happens that makes me doubt if that is even possible. Sorry, I shouldn't say that as you probably don't want it to get better, I understand why you would hate me."

"I don't hate you as a person, I have never hated you as a person but I do strongly dislike what you did to my daughter and the impact that your actions have had on her. All I want at this point is for her to be happy again in whatever way that comes. I will support her if she chooses to stay with you and I will support her if she chooses to divorce you, just as long as she is happy."

By the looks of it they would all be waiting a while to see what her decision was but that was her prerogative. "I should go and get things ready for the show, I'm sorry for not focussing and I promise it won't happen again."

"It's okay Paul, I understand and I know you won't do it again." He watched the younger man walk away before he pulled out his phone to frantically text his wife.

 _Did you know that Steph called Paul in the middle of the night? Is that why she went MIA?_

After sending the text he had a thousand things that he had to do before the show so he started by checking on the set.

* * *

It had been a few hours since she had received the text from Paul's parents, she hadn't eaten and she hadn't moved from her chair but she found herself drawn back to her phone, moving across the room she climbed on to the bed crossing her legs. Unsure of what exactly the school event was she zoomed in on the picture and found that it was a family fun day with lots of games and fun things to do to raise money a local charity. On the one hand this was probably the best thing for them to come to but on the other hand it was the worst and it had the worst timing but she couldn't tell them 'no' just because she was afraid so now she had two texts to send.

 _If you won't get bored of our company and want to stay until the weekend then you are welcome to come. I am sure the girls would love to show you around the school.  
_

* * *

The next person that argued with him over the orders he was carrying out he was likely to pedigree, he did not get enough sleep to deal with drama Queens so finding the first empty locker room he slipped inside and locked the door to just give himself five minutes breathing room so that he didn't do anything that would incur the wrath of Vince McMahon. Raw was actually underway and he should be sat at the guerrilla with Vince but he was hiding out, hopefully Vince wouldn't notice though.

It felt like time had flown by because when he looked at his watched he realised that he had been hiding out for ten minutes and that meant there was a good chance that Vince would have noticed. Taking a deep breath he prepared himself for the inevitable third degree, his hand was on the door handle ready to turn it when his phone beeped, maybe he could just take a moment to check it in case it was something really important.

 _If you think you can fake being in love with me and being a devoted husband for a few hours then you're welcome to come to the school thing on Saturday otherwise I'll make your excuses. Let me know what you decide._

Was his wife just giving him an opportunity for them to act like nothing was wrong and be a happily married couple? If she thought that he was going to turn that down then she didn't know him very well at all. Not wanting to appear too eager he didn't reply to her text just yet, he had to think how to word it first anyway. He wanted to believe that this was a good sign but today proved that there was no such thing as a good sign so he was going to have to just take it one day at a time.


	37. Chapter 37

Paul never did get a straight answer as to why Stephanie had missed Raw because when he rang home and spoke to the girls that evening none of them were sick and the brief moment he spoke to his parents they seemed well too, he didn't ask to speak to Stephanie nor did he ask about her though.

Early on Tuesday morning he received a text from his Mom inviting him to lunch on Wednesday so that was what he was currently on his way to as he left the office. "I'll be back in an hour or so, I am just going to meet my parents for lunch."

* * *

As he walked in to the restaurant and spotted his parents he noticed how deep in conversation the two of them were. "I hope I'm not late."

Springing apart from her husband Patricia hoped that her son hadn't heard anything that they had said because they had been discussing how to avoid any and all questions about Monday. "No, you're not late at all. We came a little early in case you were early so that we didn't keep you waiting as we know you have to go back to work."

Once he hugged both of his parents he took a seat at the table, "So how are you both?"

"We're good thank you; we're really enjoying getting to spend some quality time with the girls. How are you?"

He couldn't help but feel like they were keeping something from him, they were acting shifty and not entirely meeting his gaze. "I'm fine, busy but fine. How is Stephanie?"

What were they meant to say? Ever since she came home on Tuesday morning she had been quiet around them, once the girls had gone to bed she did tell them that she wasn't mad and didn't blame them for freaking out but even so they felt that she was quiet. "All things considered she is doing well."

Glancing at his Father he was confused by what he meant by that, "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

Patricia glared at her husband, now was not the time or the place to get in to it with him over their son's behaviour. "He just means that for somebody under so much pressure with work and holding down the family by herself she is doing okay."

He didn't mean to but before he really thought it through Senior was muttering to himself, "Yeah, for somebody on the verge of committing suicide she was just dandy."

One sharp elbow to her husband's ribs she sent him a death glare, she had heard what he had said, she just hoped that Paul hadn't.

For the time of day the restaurant was surprisingly quiet so it was easy to make out every word that his Father had muttered but he was sure that he had actually misheard him, "If you have something to say Dad then just say it out loud, don't bother muttering."

"Okay fine, you want to hear it you can hear it. I said for somebody on the verge of committing suicide she's just dandy. There, is that what you wanted to hear?" Senior was sick of tiptoeing around his son; it was about time he faced up to the reality of the consequences of his actions.

Somebody on the verge of suicide? No way, this couldn't be about Stephanie, it just couldn't, he was in a lot of denial and he wasn't afraid to admit it.

Mad at her husband she was going to have a serious argument when they got home, she told him not to tell Paul and he went right ahead and told him anyway. "We don't need to be having that discussion now though Paul. How was work?"

"So you are telling me that it is true? That my wife really is on the verge of suicide?" It was the last thing he wanted to hear but he wanted the truth, he didn't want to be shielded from it over some misguided sense of loyalty, if his wife was on the verge of suicide he needed to know because he needed to get her help.

"Your wife is a very troubled woman with a lot on her plate. Yes, one time she did think that everybody would be better off without her around but that was one time and I am sure that her mindset has changed since then. The last thing she needs is you to go rushing in to play hero as I am pretty sure that you are the last person that she would want to know about it so just keep your mouth shut."

How was he meant to keep his mouth shut when he just found out that? "This is my wife's health, my children's Mother for fucks sake; you can't expect me to do nothing."

Senior had had it with his son pulling the concerned husband card. "If you cared so much for her health and wellbeing then you wouldn't have spent three months of your life having an affair would you? You can't go about pretending to be the concerned and loving husband now when you didn't give a fuck about how your actions would affect her back then. Paul the bottom line is that this is actually all your fault and your wife is trying to find a way to navigate through the intense feelings that have been thrust upon her but she is understandably struggling at the minute. Between her feelings for you and her feelings over what you did she is conflicted and I don't think there is anybody in the world that wouldn't be."

When his Dad explained it like that he certainly understood what was going on but he still didn't like it and now he felt even more helpless than he did before. "What can I do to help or make it easier on her then? I don't want to lose her and I certainly don't want the girls to lose their Mom, they need her so desperately."

It was a good question but it was an answer that Patricia didn't have as she was she was struggling to figure out how they could help and they weren't him so the answer for them would be easier. "I honestly don't know Paul. We are trying to help and make it easier on her but she seems intent on handling this on her own and in her own way. Maybe if you intend on coming on Saturday you prove to her that you do still actually care about her but don't go over the top or that will just make her even more mad."

He already did intend on going on Saturday because any chance right now to act like a happily married couple he was going to take, now he was nervous about it but still determined. "I love her, I already planned to come but I am going to come and prove myself to her, I will prove to her that I love her and that she shouldn't give up on anything."

* * *

Three short days later and Paul was rushing across town to meet his family at the girl's school, he wasn't late but he didn't want to make her think that he wasn't coming even though he did send her a text to ask what time to meet them.

* * *

Having three excited girls was stretching Stephanie's patience so to save her sanity they left a little earlier than originally planned. They were taking a slow walk around avoiding being stopped by everybody as they were all too busy which suited Stephanie, unfortunately that didn't last as she found the nosiest woman in school stood in front of her, "It's so sweet that you have brought your in-laws for support because your husband has skipped out on you. I don't know why you put up with him; he is never there for you or the kids."

Would it be so wrong to slap her in the face for being an ignorant bitch? Her husband was many things but a bad Father was not one of them. She was just opening her mouth to reply when she felt an arm slide around her waist and a pair of lips on her cheek.

"I'm so sorry that I'm late, I had trouble finding some paper to write my Secretary a note and then I couldn't find you guys."

"You could have just texted her."

That woman infuriated him; she was always sticking her nose in to other people's business. "I could have, I also preferred to look for my family the old fashioned way, with my two eyes."

Much to his relief Vaughn spotted him from where she had been with her sisters and Grandparents and came running over to him at full speed, "Daddy!"

Reluctantly letting go of his wife he bent down and wrapped his arms around Vaughn hugging her tightly, "Hello Princess, are you having fun?"

"Yup yup. You gots to see what Rory and Murphs are doing." She let go of his neck before she took hold of his much larger hand with her smaller one and began to pull him along before she took hold of her Mom's hand, "You too Mommy."

Sharing a look with her husband Stephanie couldn't help but smile softly before she mouthed 'my heroes'.

* * *

After the initial romantic contact between the two of them they drifted apart because between the girls and his parents there really wasn't the opportunity for them to be close but eventually the girls ran off again closely followed by their Grandparents as they wanted to show something to them leaving Paul and Stephanie together.

He wanted to wrap his arm around her but he wasn't sure how she would react right now so kept his hand to himself. "What did what's her face want earlier? She looked like she was annoying you."

"You couldn't even see my face, how could you tell if she was annoying me or not?"

Now he was going to sound entirely creepy but there was no way of getting out of it, "Uh, umm, I could tell from the muscles in your back and such." Placing his hand on her shoulder he squeezed it gently, "For what it is worth that woman really annoys me."

She took his hand and pulled it around her shoulders before she leaned against him a little, "For what it is worth she really annoys me too. She was saying that she doesn't know why I put up with you as you always skip out on me and the girls. I am so proud of myself for not slapping the taste right out of her mouth. You have your faults but the one thing that you don't do is skip out on the girls, you call them every single night even when you are away in a different time zone and will forego sleep just so that you can stay in contact with them."

He didn't question anything that she did because he missed holding her and as she said they had to act like a loving married couple it would defeat the object. Absently pressing a kiss to the top of her head he then rested his cheek there, "I haven't been the best husband and I know that but I always strive to be the best Father. I now realise that I need to put as much effort in to being a good husband as I do at being a good Father, it is the least that you deserve." About to add on to the end of it something about that being if she took him back he second guessed himself and left that out, either way she may get mad and he would prefer her to get mad for him being too hopeful than for him being too pessimistic.

"You too make such a cute couple. I wish my husband still loved me as much as yours does you."

Where the hell had that voice come from? Reluctantly lifting his head he spotted somebody whose face was familiar but whose name he couldn't remember stood behind them. Releasing his arm from around his wife's shoulders he turned to look at the other woman forcing a smile, "I am sure that your husband still loves you really."

To be polite Stephanie turned around to look at who had spoken and forced a smile, without thinking she wrapped both of her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest, it wasn't the best thing to do in company but despite everything she just found herself forgetting what he had put her through and focussing on how he made her feel and how nice it felt being close to him and in his arms again.

Paul desperately tried not to read too much in to his wife's actions because she had said about them acting like a loving married couple but this was beyond just acting to him, it felt so much more and it was everything that he missed about their relationship. It was a relief when the other woman got called away leaving the two of them alone again but he remained afraid to speak to her because he was terrified that he would say the wrong thing and push her over the edge after what his Dad had blurted out on Wednesday.

* * *

The impromptu cuddle with her husband was interrupted when she felt small hands trying to push them apart, looking down she was surprised to see Vaughn pushing at them both so she stepped back, "What's with you little missy?"

"I wants cuddles from you both."

It was six simple words that actually broke Stephanie's heart. Bending down she easily scooped up her little girl and held her close, "You get lots of cuddles."

She rested her head on her Mom's shoulder as she held on to her, "But not Mommy and Daddy squishy cuddles."

Paul couldn't help but laugh at his daughter, she was obviously getting tired but he loved these moments, most of the time. Carefully wrapping his arms around both his wife and daughter he placed his hands on his wife's hips and kissed the top of Vaughn's head, "All you had to do was ask."

Murphy and Aurora returned to their parents with their Grandparents in tow, "Is Vaughn okay?"

So focussed on her youngest daughter she failed to pay any attention to where her other two girls were because she knew that they were safe with her in-laws. "Your sister has just been really busy having lots of fun with the two of you so now she is just getting really sleepy so we will have to go home soon."

"Can Daddy come with us too please? I want a Mommy and Daddy hug too."

"Of course he can." The last thing she wanted to do was seem to be favouring one of her children so there really was no other option but to agree to it anyway.

They didn't stay much longer at the school before they all made their way back to the house.

* * *

Vaughn was exhausted so Paul took her upstairs and lay her down in her room before he came back downstairs to be greeted by Murphy stood at the bottom of the stairs looking up at him, "What can I do for you Murphy?"

"Squishy Mommy and Daddy hug like Vaughnie gets."

He couldn't help but shake his head at his daughter, "Couldn't you have waited for me in the lounge with your Mom?"

Once her Dad was in front of her she took hold of his big hand with her two much smaller ones, "I didn't want you to leave, if I waited for you then you had to stay."

Paul didn't know what to say in response to his daughter so he just bent down and scooped her up in his arms pressing a kiss to her cheek as soon as her face was level with his walking her to the lounge where everybody was sat.

She wasn't sure where Murphy had wandered off to but she hadn't returned yet so Stephanie was going to have to go and look for her but before she got up she spotted her husband carrying her in to the room, "Don't tell me she had you wrapped so far around her little finger that you're going to start carrying her everywhere." The last thing she needed was for him to start that.

"Actually no, I just picked her up as she was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs and it was a little easier than her dragging me in here as she wants me to stay for a hug."

Before she could answer him the little girl had twisted a little in his arms and was reaching for her, "Mommy and Daddy squishy hug please."

It wouldn't be fair to deny her the same hug that Vaughn had got as she had asked so nicely for it. Taking a few small steps forward she wrapped her arms around her daughter and her husband pressing a kiss to her daughter's head, "I love you Princess."

Murphy was so happy as she cuddled in to her Father's chest and felt the love of both of her parents surrounding her.

After a minute Stephanie pulled away before she turned to Aurora, "Let me guess, you're too old for a hug?" For the past few days the little girl had been hit and miss with whether she allowed hugs or not so she was giving her some control over them even if it did kill her not to be able to just hug her daughter when she wanted.

Shaking her head their eldest got up from the floor and ran over to her Mom wrapping her arms around her tightly, it felt like forever since she had seen her Mom this relaxed and happy and she wanted to remain in this minute forever.

He felt like he was being a bad Father by not giving Aurora the hug that his other two daughters had had so he placed Murphy back on the floor, "Go and play like a good girl." The way that Stephanie had allowed her to take the lead on the hug made him hesitant to just hug her so he decided to just put the offer out there, "Can I hug you too or no?"

Briefly looking over at him she shook her head, "Not yet. Mommy first, you get a hug when I'm done."

She was so head strong and so much like her Mother he just nodded and waited for his turn.

Once she had given her Mom a tight hug she pulled back, "Love you Mommy."

Bending down Stephanie kissed the top of her daughter's head, "I love you too." She then stood and watched as the little girl quickly covered the short distance between herself and Paul and wrapped her arms around him tightly, after everything that she had been going through it was nice to see Aurora letting her Dad back in and almost forgiving him for it all, whether she was like this with him on another day was still to be seen but for today it was nice.

Whilst his eldest hugged his wife he had got on to his knees to wait for her hug, it had been a while since she had truly hugged him tightly and he was hopeful that they had turned a corner. When she approached him he opened his arms and waited with baited breath, his silent prayers were answered when she threw her arms around his neck and held on tightly.

A hug from her Father was exactly what the little girl wanted but she wanted one thing more, lowering her voice to a whisper she simply said, "Thank you."

Thank you? Confused he needed to ask her more but as she had whispered it he chose to answer that way, "What did I do?"

"You made Mommy happy again. Thank you."

It was like a punch to the gut hearing his daughter thank him for making his wife happy, he hadn't even noticed that she was happy but knowing that she hadn't been happy because of what he had done made him feel terrible but the knowledge that he had been able to make her happy again was a small light in a pitch black room. "You're welcome baby."

As she watched her husband and her daughter together she realised one thing, "Paul, can we talk once you have given Aurora her much deserved hug?"

He didn't know why but when his wife asked him that his heart sank, he couldn't help but think that 'talk' was just a cover for her giving him some sort of bad news. "Sure, whatever you want Steph."

* * *

Patricia had spent the last half an hour wishing that she could just pause time and keep this day being replayed forever as Stephanie had been so happy and relaxed too, she had almost forgotten that the two of them had been having problems with the way that they had been acting and she liked it. Her fingers were crossed that whatever was about to be discussed was not going to be bad news because the girls had picked up on how happy her parents were and they had been relaxed and carefree for the first time since they had arrived.


	38. Chapter 38

Paul followed his wife out of the lounge and expected to go to the kitchen to talk but instead of turning left she turned right and led him downstairs to the gym. He was so relaxed around her after today that the words tumbled out of his mouth, "Did you bring me down here to kill me with a weight to the head?"

She turned around and came face to face with her husband, she was a little preoccupied with her thoughts of the day and what she was going to say to him, "What did you just say?"

"Uh . . . I . . . um . . ." He was failing all over his words because he was too terrified about saying the wrong thing, "I was just joking but I asked if you brought me down here to kill me with a weight to the head because we came down here to the gym rather than talking in the kitchen so nobody would hear the noise."

"It wasn't that, we didn't come down here for me to kill you, I did it so that we could talk in complete privacy. If you aren't comfortable we can go back up to the kitchen though." As she went to walk past him to go back upstairs he grabbed hold of her wrist sending shivers up and down her spine, "What?"

"I was joking; I trust you and I believe that you won't do anything like that to hurt me so we can talk down here no problem." Releasing her wrist he moved further in to the gym and stood there awkwardly not sure whether to sit down or stand or what to do.

Stephanie followed him in to the gym and took a seat on the weight bench, "So about today."

Before she had even finished her sentence he realised that this conversation was not something he should continue to stand for, he wanted her to feel comfortable talking and not like he was standing over her. Taking apart the box jump he took a seat opposite her and prepared himself for the worst as he just didn't feel like he was going to be that lucky.

When he started to walk towards her she stopped talking not sure what the hell that he was going to do after today so she was relieved when he just sat down. "I was thinking about how you made me feel today and how things have been between us recently."

"How I made you feel?" Immediately he was panicking, he was expecting the worst and expecting her to say that he had made her feel sick, "I am really sorry if I went too far and made you uncomfortable, it really was not my intention but I was trying to make sure that nobody realised how badly I had treated you and the distance between you and I at this moment."

Suddenly the distance between them was hurting so she moved across the room and sat on the box jump he had taken off the top of the one he was now sitting on, "Yes, how you made me feel. Today you reminded me of the husband that you were, the shiver that used to run down my spine as you looked at me in a certain way and you also reminded me of the family that we were together but more than any of that you reminded me that I didn't **need** you in order to be happy, I was just happy when I was with you."

Well that did not sound good at all, it certainly sounded like she was about to tell him that they were over, or maybe that was just his brain expecting bad things to come his way as it was exactly what he deserved after how he had treated her. "So you don't need me to be happy, what does that mean for us?" Silently throwing up a prayer he didn't want to lose his wife forever and would do absolutely anything so that he didn't.

What it meant was that she realised she didn't want to live without him. Stephanie turned on the box so that she was facing him as best she could before she reached for his hand loosely gripping his fingers, "I want to give us another chance to see if we can rebuild what we had."

"Really?!" He couldn't keep the surprise from his face or his voice because that was honestly the last thing that he expected.

"Really. Paul you are my husband and I love you, despite everything that happened and everything that you did it doesn't change the facts." It made her smile the way that he had removed his fingers from her grip and was now playing with her fingers with his gaze going between her face and her hand. "If we are going to do this then it needs to be slowly and discreetly."

Slowly and discreetly? Was she embarrassed by the idea of them getting back together? He understood slowly but discreetly was really throwing him and was distracting him from being distracted by her wearing her wedding ring. "Why do we have to be discreet? Are you ashamed of what your family will think if we get back together?"

"What? Are you crazy? I want it to be discreet because I don't want the girls to know and to get their hopes up, that and I think it will be quite exciting to sneak about having dates and it may even be good for us."

"Why do you make so much sense?" Removing his hand Paul couldn't help but cross his arms and pout because it was just so frustrating.

She probably shouldn't do this but she couldn't help herself from leaning across and pressing a soft kiss to his lips before she sat back down in her seat, "I am sure that you will get over it."

His wife had just kissed him willingly and without it all being an act, was she going to start ignoring him now? He feared the worst but wanted nothing but the best outcome. "Well that was a surprise."

"A bad surprise?"

"Absolutely not, any time I get to kiss you it is a good day. I was just surprised that you kissed me at this moment but I enjoyed it a lot."

A soft smile came to her lips as she stood up, "Good. I had better go upstairs to relieve your parents."

When she moved to leave the room Paul quickly stood up and wrapped his arms around his wife from behind and held her tightly, "Wait, please hold on."

Her arms were trapped and his hands were dangerously close to being on her breasts which heightened her awareness of everything going on around her as she wasn't sure what he was playing at. "What do you want Paul?"

"If you want to try to rebuild what we had then how are we going to do it? I don't want to push you but you never did give me any idea about what you had planned." Anxiously flexing his fingers a little he accidentally brushed her breasts but didn't realise it.

Hissing at the touch of his fingers she had forgotten how nice his touch was, "We can't do that yet, as much as I want you we can't do that and it probably won't be for a while as I have to forget that you have been there with another woman."

"I'm really sorry Steph but this is gibberish to me, I have no idea what you are going on about." Reluctantly releasing his hold on her he moved to stand in front of her so that they were face to face so that he could try and read her

If he had no clue what was going on then she would demonstrate, on him. Slowly raising her hands she placed them on his chest, "Your hands were just below here and when you flexed your fingers you rubbed my chest, if you get my point. I miss you and I need that but I don't need it bad enough to risk everything so that is off the table, out of the question, however you want to word it."

Paul could feel his face flushing pink as he placed his hands over his wife's, that was the last thing that he had actually intended to do, "I am really sorry Steph, I didn't mean to do that or act like that at all. Please say that this hasn't messed things up and given you second thoughts."

"Yeah, because accidental touches are really going to make me change my mind." Rolling her eyes she crossed her arms over her chest out of reflex. "I know that things are not great between us but they aren't **that** bad, I just can't handle your touches like that at the minute." The steps that they had made to move closer together all seemed to have disappeared and she felt separated from him again so she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest, she needed to be reminded that she had made the right decision and she knew that how she felt holding him would help.

His wife was acting strangely but he almost felt like he deserved to have his mind messed with like this because it was basically what he had done to her. Wrapping his arms around his wife's waist he rested his chin on the top of her head, "Are you okay?"

"Uh huh." The sound of his heartbeat beneath her head was soothing but she really needed to go back upstairs otherwise somebody was going to come and look for her or them as they had been a while so she really needed to explain her plan. "We are going to do secret dates, I am not sure how and when we will make them happen but we will have to find the time for them between work and the girls okay?"

"Lunchtime seems to be the best bet, that and maybe the occasional date when the girls have gone to bed and we take a chance that they aren't going to wake up."

That was probably one of their only options but it was probably their best one too. "I think that sounds sensible. What about Monday?"

The last time that they made a date for Monday she didn't turn up, he wanted to ask what the difference now was and if she would actually turn up this time but he valued his head so was just going to have to go along with it and hope for the best. "Monday is good for me."

"Okay good. I'd better go back upstairs but you can stay for a while if you want." Slowly removing herself from his arms she walked towards the stairs but stopped at the doorway, "By the way, you can't tell **anybody** what we are doing, not even your parents." She didn't wait for a response; she simply walked out of the room and straight up the stairs.

Paul stood their dumbly watching her leave, that woman certainly kept him on his toes and was definitely going to rightly make him work for every forward step that they made towards reconciliation.

* * *

Patricia had periodically been checking her watch since Paul and Stephanie had gone to 'talk', once they reached fifteen minutes her anxiety grew because it could mean that she had told him that it was over and they were discussing how to tell people and how to publicly handle the idea of them divorcing. She thought that they had looked so good together again and it was like nothing had happened so maybe she was just jumping to conclusions. It was as if her mind was being read because no more than a couple of minutes later she spotted Stephanie walking in to the room.

The first thing that Stephanie noticed as she walked in to the lounge was the sight of her eldest two girls cuddled together on the sofa, sometimes they fought like cat and dog but times like this made her forget all about the bad times. "Can I come and join you?"

"But you've got to be quiet." Murphy responded without taking her eyes off the screen for a second which amused Stephanie. As her daughter did not want to miss a second of the movie she went and sat beside Aurora as that way she didn't have to walk across the screen, "Are you okay?"

Aurora nodded and cuddled in to her Mom, "Did Daddy leave without saying bye?"

"No he didn't, Daddy is just older and slower than Mommy is."

"I am not older and slower, I was taking my time, and there is a difference." Paul pretended to be offended by what his wife had said and thought he may get told off; he just didn't expect to get told off by his middle child.

"Shush Daddy; I am trying to watch this."

"But you've seen it a thousand times." Scratching his head he was so confused, she could probably recite half of the movie off my heart so he didn't know what the big deal was.

"Shush Daddy, I'm watching. Just sit down and be quiet."

There was a point that it was cute and funny and there was a point where it went too far and for Stephanie that was too far. Reaching across she took hold of the DVD remote controller and paused the movie immediately getting whines and protests from her daughter, "No Murphy, you do not tell people to 'just sit down and be quiet', that is rude and disrespectful and I want to tell your Dad that you are sorry."

Standing up the little girl walked over to her Dad and threw her arms around his waist hugging him tightly, "Sorry Daddy."

Paul returned the hug of his daughter before he bent down and kissed the top of her head, "I accept your apology, just don't do it again, to me or to anybody else."

"Promise Daddy." She released the hug and took hold of his hand dragging him behind her to the couch, "You sit next to Rory and me."

"Yes Ma'am, whatever you say." Once he sat down he ran a hand over his older daughter's head as she relaxed against Stephanie, "You don't mind me sitting here do you?" He was still very much aware that things with them were on shaky ground so he didn't want to risk anything."

Blindly reaching for her Dad's hand she slipped her fingers through his holding his hand against her side, "I don't mind."

With one daughter cuddling in to his side and one holding his hand life was almost perfect, all it was missing was his youngest daughter and his wife to actually be involved in this moment and it would have been more perfect than it actually was.

Murphy didn't want her Dad to leave which was why she had cuddled in to him and was holding on tightly to his waist, well as tight as an eight year old could anyway. "Can we finish the movie please?"

Stephanie didn't respond, she just pressed 'Play' on the remote so that the girls could finish watching their movie.

* * *

When Vaughn woke up from her nap she came downstairs and immediately spotted her Father and climbed in to his lap much to the annoyance of her older sister.

"Now now Murphy, you have had me mostly to yourself for a while now, it is only fair that your sister gets a cuddle."

Although Stephanie had said she wanted them to try dating again she wasn't ready for **this** sight so she removed herself from Aurora's grip, "I need to go and start on dinner but you can stay here with your Dad."

"Oh, okay." The little girl had enjoyed just relaxing with her Mom as they watched a movie together, "Come back soon."

Before she stood up she pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "Of course, I will be back when I can but you know where I am if you want me."

The kitchen was no quieter than the lounge but it felt like a much better room because she wasn't feeling stifled at all by Paul's existence.

Patricia followed her daughter-in-law through to the kitchen to see if she could pump her for any information, "Is everything okay?"

She jumped at the sound of a voice behind her; she had almost forgotten that Patricia and Senior were still there as they had both been so quiet. "I'm fine; I just don't know what to cook for the girls' dinner tonight."

It was a nice shot at a believable explanation but she had been on this planet long enough the truth, "Is it Paul?"

"Is what Paul?" She was now lost, they had gone from one minute talking about dinner to the next thing being a mention of Paul and he definitely was not for dinner.

There was only a small chance that somebody would come looking and overhear the conversation but it was a chance that she wasn't willing to take so Patricia pushed the door closed, "If you are honest is Paul what is on your mind?"

If she was honest the answer was yes but it was so much more than the simple thoughts. "It's just hard seeing him with the girls you know?"

"Believe me I know." She knew this would shock her daughter-in-law but maybe she would appreciate the honesty, "It is so hard for me to watch him being the doting Father to the girls acting like nothing has happened and nothing has changed when everything is different and truthfully he is a different person."

Wow, she was so shocked to hear Patricia talk about him like that, it was nice though that is parents obviously weren't ignoring what happened and were acknowledging that he did a bad thing and it obviously changed how they viewed him as a person also. "It isn't so much that he is acting like nothing has happened because that is actually good for the girls I think. I am trying so hard to not let the girls see the deeper issues other than me being sad, which in itself I had tried to hide from them but apparently failed miserably at doing, I just don't want what happened between me and him to change the way that they view him because it didn't affect him as their Father, it affected me as his wife."

"The girls are fine, for the most part they seem to be unaffected and their Father is still their hero, well for Murphy and Vaughn that is the case, Aurora is still on the fence about him a lot of the time, what more could you ask for?"

"You really think so?" She was surprised that she thought that the girls were fine, to her they seemed okay but she also thought that she was being blind to it all as she hadn't even noticed that they had noticed that she was sad.

Squeezing the younger woman's arm she nodded her head, "I really think so. We have been staying here for a couple of weeks now and really spent a lot of time with them and I honestly believe that they are doing fine. I think you have almost broken yourself by attempting to be so strong and hide everything from them but you really don't need to do it alone, you have so much support around you."

"Thank you. This really isn't helping me decide about dinner though."

The older lady couldn't help but laugh, "Sorry about that. Right, what shall we make them for dinner?"


	39. Chapter 39

This is for **Manal** , thank you for your patience and the polite reminder to actually post this :)

* * *

Monday morning Paul was waiting beside the plane to take them to Raw, the last time he had been in this situation he had left alone wondering whether his family was okay and now he was stood there wondering if she was actually going to turn up or if it had all been words.

Much to his surprise before her Father even turned up he spotted his wife walking towards him and he couldn't help but smile, she had come and that was a huge first step, whether she went through with the lunch though was another matter.

* * *

When she arrived Stephanie spotted her husband and she had to try not to smile, it appeared that he couldn't take his eyes off her.

"So why have you two arrived separately? I mean it isn't like you live apart."

There was always one, trying not to roll her eyes at him she awkwardly stood next to her husband, "He procrastinated and hadn't finished packing before I had to take the girls to school so he was on his own in terms of getting here. Anything else you want to know?"

In order to keep up the pretence that they were happily married he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "I already said that I am sorry and that I will try not to do it again, there is no need to snap at people."

She knew what he was doing but she still wasn't happy about it, giving them another go to see if they could make it work between them was where she drew the line, going beyond that to being touchy feely was a small step too far for her at this point. Her contribution to the conversation ended as she waited for them to be left alone again before she extracted herself from his arm and stepped away, "Can we just keep things less touchy feely if possible please? It is one step at a time and I am not ready for that step."

He could understand that as it was a big step for them to make to be romantic together and this was basically day one of them starting their relationship again. "I apologise, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I will let you judge what we do and how fast we go and I will try not to unintentionally push you but if I do then you know, just slap me gently or something and get me back in line."

Giggling softly she ducked her head looking down at the floor because she knew that she was blushing a little as what he just described is exactly what she used to do to him when he would effectively step out of line when they were in a better place only the slaps were to his arm or chest and not his face. "Be good."

"I am? Don't you know by now that this is me on my best behaviour?" He wasn't intending to flirt with her but it came naturally to him when he was around her.

"Stephanie, it is so good of you to join us this morning."

The sound of her Father's booming voice effectively threw a bucket of cold water all over her bright mood; it was amazing what effect her Dad could have on her. "What exactly is your point? It isn't like I am the only person to ever miss a week and I won't be the last so let's move on and just get to Raw already." She was probably one of few people who could get away with talking to him like that, it wasn't normal for her but he also didn't normally act like that towards her.

Politely turning his wife towards the plane he gave her a gentle nudge keeping himself between his wife and his Father-in-law for fear of World War 3 breaking out between them.

Allowing her husband to nudge her towards the plane she wanted to put some distance between herself and her Father, it was almost like he was going to deliberately push her buttons and she would just rather not deal with that. As she wanted to avoid her Dad as much as possible she sat down in the seat likely to be furthest away from where he was going to sit and took a deep breath, she was really nervous about today and was likely to snap at her Dad if he didn't back off.

Stood contemplating the best place to sit he decided to test his luck and see if she would think that he was stifling her if he sat with her. "Dare I ask to sit with you?"

"I'm okay with you sitting with me, just don't act like my Father was or I will throw you out of the door at thirty thousand feet."

It was good to know his wife was on fine form today, he would rather she acted like this than be cold and distant though. Taking a seat opposite her he chose his next words very carefully, "I promise that I will be on my very best behaviour now and all day long."

"Thank you." Maybe she was going too far by letting him sit with her but she also knew that everybody would be watching them again and if they stayed apart again then people would start asking questions and the way her day was going they wouldn't like the answers.

* * *

The flight to Raw was relatively quiet, for the most part Paul kept himself to himself and focussed on work as the last thing that he wanted to do was push her too far and for her to call lunch off. On the descent towards ground he decided that now was as good a time as any to ask her what her plans for them were, "We didn't discuss the final details for lunch so do you care to share them now please?"

Lunch, ah yes, she had almost forgotten that as she had been so focussed on trying to make her diary work so that she could attend Vaughn's thing at school and do everything that she had to do for WWE. "I want to eat food in peace and maybe have a coffee with it so if you can make that happen then I am all yours."

It was sad to Paul that all she wanted was to eat food in peace, it wasn't a lot to ask but he had a feeling that it was something she hadn't been doing a lot of, if he was truly honest he had a feeling she hadn't been doing a whole lot of eating full stop as she had lost a bit of weight, maybe not enough for **everybody** to notice but **he** noticed. "Well I can certainly arrange the food and the coffee so I will go looking for somewhere quiet when we get to the arena, that is if you don't mind being isolated with me."

"I don't mind, as long as you realise that nothing is going to happen between us." She didn't think that he thought getting them alone would get him something but she had to be certain, she couldn't handle a miscommunication and him pushing her for something even if it was just a kiss.

People were beginning to get up and move about as they had now landed and they were about to be let off the plane so he had to choose his next words carefully so that prying eyes didn't start spreading rumours about them. "Believe me I know. I know this may be hard for you to understand but I just want to spend time with you, just the two of us."

It was very hard for her to understand, why would he want to spend and not expect something out of it? She tried not to let her brain drift to the fact that he had an affair and just focussed on the fact that he wanted to work it out with her when he really didn't have to, he could have taken the easy route and stayed single or stayed with the other woman but he chose her. "We have to work on that."

That among other things apparently but he knew that it wasn't going to be easy and he was in it for the long haul. "I am a hard worker and will prove my commitment to you as your husband, lover and best friend." Getting up from his seat he pulled both of their bags down before and placed hers on the seat that he had just been sitting in, "I will see you at lunchtime most likely."

Standing up she knew that she was smiling at him and she couldn't help it because he was acting like the man that she had fallen in love with, pressing a kiss to his cheek her smile got wider seeing the surprise on his face, "I'll see you at lunchtime." She picked up her bag and squeezed past him as he stood rooted to the spot.

* * *

Vince wasn't spying on his daughter but he was keeping an eye on things between her and Paul because he was a Father and he was protective of his daughter and after seeing the way that her husband had been with her when Vince arrived at the plane he was suspicious. The fact that the two of them had sat together on the plane wasn't entirely an issue because he could understand that they were trying to keep the news of their current separation from being made public but when they got up and she was smiling and she kissed him he was concerned. She had been so fragile since she found out that he had cheated on her that he wasn't sure if he was intentionally, or unintentionally, preying on her to get whatever it was he wanted.

 _What do I do if I suspect Paul is messing with Stephanie's head?_

Maybe his wife was the wrong person to go to because she would probably worry but he was worried too, after everything that had happened he was afraid that she would have her head messed with to that extent that she would take that final step to end things for good. There was no time to waste when it came to work though as he had a packed day ahead of him so he had to gather his things together and make his way off the plane.

* * *

The kiss to his cheek was a surprise and judging by her face she knew it and enjoyed teasing him by doing it. Even though she had surprised him with that kiss he now knew better than to think that it truly meant good things for them, she was still like a see saw with her moods relating to him so he would take the good when they came and ride out the bad when they came also because they were bound to appear. The tap to his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts and back to the present, he had a job to do and a few hours to waste before his lunch date.

* * *

Once they were given the freedom to have some food Paul didn't immediately seek out Stephanie, he got the food and the coffee first. It wasn't easy juggling the food and the drink but he managed it, barely. He didn't know why he was so worried about people following him and watching where he was going because for all intents and purposes they were a married couple and it wasn't outside the realms of possibility that they would spend their lunch together but even so he was constantly looking over his shoulder and after he had knocked on the door his eyes were darting around all over the place. He had found them somewhere quiet and would escort her there, his attempt to catch her to tell her where it was had failed miserably so this was his only option.

* * *

At lunchtime Stephanie retreated to her locker room, she knew that she was meeting Paul but she just needed five minutes to herself to clear her mind. It felt like she had barely closed the door on the locker room when somebody was knocking at the door, "So much for my quiet five minutes." Walking to the door she pulled the door open with the intention of telling them she was leaving as she had someplace to be if it was somebody that she didn't want to deal with but she was surprised to see Paul stood there, "Paul? What are you doing here?"

"Uh, well I kind of thought we had a date to have lunch together?"

"Oh." She had been so busy that she had been distracted by what the time actually was that she had misjudged what time she actually had. "I'm sorry, I thought that I had longer than I actually did and had the opportunity to sit down and relax as this morning has been manic. I just need to go and grab some food and I'll be with you okay?"

"Or you could sit down and eat the food that I have brought? I know that it is on one plate but unless you are so hungry you could eat this arena out I think there is enough for the both of us." He was trying to maintain an air of confidence but he was quickly losing it as it felt like she was coming up with any excuse not to make this lunch happen.

He had food; he was struggling with drinks so what more could she ask for? "Did you find somewhere quiet and secluded for us to enjoy lunch alone?"

"It was the first thing that I did when I arrived at the arena. There may just be an extra and unexpected production room that is entirely out of the way."

A soft giggle passed her lips at the lengths to which he had gone to. "I like the way you think Mr Levesque, lead the way." Darting back in to the room she picked up her phone and tucked it in to her pocket before she took the drinks from his hand and followed him to wherever they would be eating.

The room was bare apart from one single blanket and two solitary steel folding chairs but it was all that he could find to "borrow" for their lunch. "I'm sorry there is nothing really comfortable to sit on, this is all that I could borrow/steal and not get noticed. By the way, I have no idea why there was a blanket hanging around but I thought it was a good option if the chairs were too awkward or whatever."

Oddly enough she liked the blanket option, she wasn't so much bothered where he sat but sitting on a blanket was going to be more relaxing than a steel chair, "I call the blanket." Without hesitating she put the coffees down on the floor and shook it out. Once she realised how big it was her opinion changed, "I guess with such a big blanket there is room for us both so you can take your pick."

Paul waited for his wife to sit down before he took a seat beside her, close but not too close, "Do you have any requests for how much food you would like?"

"Honestly I don't, I will just have whatever you don't want as I am more interested in the coffee."

She could not live on coffee; he refused to see her living on coffee and not eating a proper meal and losing even more weight. Separating the plates he started to push food from one to the other until he was satisfied with the portion and handed one to her, "There you go, enjoy your lunch."

Taking the plate from him she smiled softly, "Thank you."

The two fell into a somewhat comfortable silence as they ate but Paul was really not a fan of the silence so decided to break it, "Your lunch is okay right?"

"It's great thanks, you picked some pretty nice food and it is cooked well by catering so I can't complain." He was sweet and kind to care but even if it was really badly cooked food just being there with him was nice today, she felt comfortable.

"I am glad that you are enjoying the food." Taking a sip of his coffee he couldn't get over how relaxed she looked and that made everything worthwhile, even the glares he had received from Vince today. "Completely changing the subject and at risk of ruining lunch, is it just me that your Father is shooting dirty looks at and being incredibly snappy towards?"

"As far as I know that answer is yes, why?"

"Because he has been really cranky and I swear he has nearly bitten my head off at least twice in the past hour. I have been a good boy and haven't said or done anything that would make him mad at me . . . today."

Unable to stop the giggle from passing her lips at the way he added 'today' on the end she shook her head. Stephanie was genuinely baffled as to why her Dad was acting like that with him now, not when he had been acting normally towards him all along. "I'm really sorry but I have nothing, I haven't even really spoken to my Dad all weekend with Saturday and then your parents leaving yesterday I just haven't had the time. I would offer to have a word with him for you but I think it's probably best if I don't."

"Thanks, I guess I will ride out the storm and hope he is in a sweeter mood towards me tomorrow." Having just finished his food he put the plate down on the floor beside him and then leaned back to relax against the wall, well as much as Paul could against a cold, hard wall anyway.

Her mind was going a mile a minute, why was her Dad being so weird and acting so mad with Paul when up to that point he had treated him normally despite knowing about the affair as soon as she did. There wasn't much left of her lunch but she had lost her appetite for it so just put the plate aside and picked up her coffee, "Thank you for organising this, I needed to get the space to clear my mind today."

"You're . . . welcome, I think." He was undecided on if she meant it in a flirty way or if it was a friendly way like she would say to her secretary but when her hand fell on his arm and squeezed it gently he had his answer, taking her hand he raised it to his lips and kissed the back of it, "I wanted to keep my promise of enjoying secluded lunch dates and I will continue to do so in whatever way you deem fit so really I should be thanking you for this second opportunity."

She didn't want to be thanked; she wanted him to make the most of it and to show her that she was doing the right thing and that he really did want to be with her forever. Stephanie was about to reply to him telling him as much when her phone beeped, she wanted to ignore it but in case it was important or about the girls she just couldn't. Removing the phone from her pocket she was a little taken aback to see a text from her Mom, the last thing she had heard was that she would be off the grid for a few days sorting some things out.

 _Is everything okay? Your Dad said you were snappy so I'm trying to play peacemaker between the two of you._

Angrily throwing her phone across the room she crossed her arms and huffed, "When I get my hands on my Father I am going to kill him."

Like the observant husband he was trying to be he watched his wife's body language noticing her anger rising before she even threw the phone. "How about instead of committing murder and going to jail you tell me what he has done this time."

Maybe telling him was a better option than killing her Dad. Sighing heavily she moved to lay on the floor and rested her head on his thighs looking up at him, "He is being annoying and frustrating and trying to get my Mom to pump me for information because apparently he thinks that there is something wrong."

Gently brushing her hair back he feared that Vince knew exactly what was going on between the two of them, it would explain the way he was towards him earlier. "You don't think he knows what we're doing do you? He has been acting strangely towards me and now this?"

"Trust me, if my Dad actually knew what was happening then he wouldn't be being subtle about it, he would be coming straight out and saying something." He made a good point though; maybe her Dad was on to them? Not that she really wanted to think about her Dad right now though; she was enjoying herself, as long as she stopped herself from thinking about whether he did certain things with the other woman.

"Either way you should probably reply to your Mom otherwise you will be the one getting dirty looks from Vince and not just me." His hand briefly moved to stroke her cheek before he went back to stroking her hair.

They were quickly and easily falling back in to the old habits from when they were married, like her laying her head in his lap and him stroking her hair, and Stephanie wasn't sure if that was actually a good idea or not but she just couldn't stop herself. No matter how hard she tried to fight it and how much she told herself they needed to be slow and careful so that she didn't get hurt she just couldn't stop herself. "Are we moving too fast?"

Paul was confused, one minute they had been talking about her parents and now she was asking something about going too fast. "Umm . . . to be truthful I don't actually know what you are talking about."

"This." Motioning to the two of them as best she could from her position she reluctantly pushed herself to sit up, "Are we going too fast together given everything?"

His lap felt cold now that she had sat up but brushing his legs he moved so that they were sat side by side, "For what it is worth I don't think you can judge speed by anything because this isn't like we are just getting to know each other and beginning to date for the first time, we have already been married for more than ten years so we have already done all of the getting to know each other slowly, we are just trying to rebuild our marriage to see if we can make things work between us again."

What he said made sense but there was part of it that scared her, she didn't know what it was but she was terrified. "I should go before my Mom starts calling or my Dad goes looking for me." Pushing herself up from the floor she picked up her coffee cup before she went to find her phone, as much as she wanted to break it or leave it there she needed it in case the girls called.

"I enjoyed myself Steph, thank you."

She didn't respond, she didn't know how to. Pulling open the door she made sure that the coast was clear before she walked out to head back to her office and to think about replying to her Mom.

If the silence was any indication of anything then he would say that she would be calling time on their marriage pretty soon, he thought things had been going well but he had obviously been deluding himself.


End file.
